Not a Typical Civil War
by Clownwithachainsaw
Summary: Stamford explodes. Friends choose sides. Spider-man reveals his identity. This is just my story about how the Civil War should have gone.
1. Chapter 1

**Civil War Chapter One**

Our story begins in Stamford, Connecticut where a group of young super heroes known as the New Warriors attempt to take down a group of hidden super villains while filming reality t.v. show…

The New Warrior's manager and liaison paced around the control room for WTNH-Channel 8. "Okay, how many super villains are we talking here speedball?"

Speedball crouched in the bushes behind a suburban house with Night Trasher, Namorita, and Microbe. "Three." He said. "No, wait. I think I see Coldheart in the backyard emptying the trash. That's four of 'em in total, and all four are on the FBI most wanted list, right?"

Information popped up on the screens in the command center. "Cobalt Man, Coldheart, Speed Freak, Nitro… yep. They all broke out of Rykers three months back and all of them have records as long as your arm. Whoever tipped us in, we owe them big for this. Coldheart fought Spider-man a couple of times and – get this – Speedfreak almost took down the Hulk."

"He what?" Night Thrasher asked.

"These guys are totally out of our league, man." Microbe said, a bead of sweat dripping down his head. "No way should we be going in there."

"But think about the ratings Microbe." Speedball said. "This could be the best episode of the second season."

"Speedball..." Night Thrasher moaned.

"So what's the plan?" Namorita asked.

"We go in hard and fast." Night Thrasher said. "We need to take out Speedfreak first, make sure nobody gets away. Speedball, you'll have to handle Nitro. Your energy powers mean you can handle him better than any of us. And remember, these guys are big league, so don't hold back."

"Uh oh." Microbe said.

"Whassup Mike?" Speedball asked.

"We've been marked."

Coldheart ran into the house. "Everyone in costume!" She yelled. "It's a raid!"

"Let's go!" Speedball yelled, jumping into the fray first, as always. He smashed through the window right at speedfreak.

"Holy #%G!" He yelled. As Speedfreak plowed straight into him and out the front of the house.

"I've heard that clothes make the man Speedfreak…" Speedball yelled, punching him in the mouth. "…and in your case it's totally true!"

"Sound was off for a second there, bud." The cameraman said. "Any chance of that last part again?"

"Sure thing." Speedball kicked Speedfreak in the head. "And in your case it's totally true chuckles!"

"Wait a minute." Coldheart said, defending herself from Namorita. "I know you guys. You're the idiots from that reality show. I'm not getting taken down by goldfish girl and the bondage queen."

"Yeah because Namorita sounds so much straighter." Microbe gently pushed Cobalt Man over. "I've got my bacterial beasties rusting Cobalt Man. Does Speedball have Nitro?"

"Nah." Speedball said, kicking Speedfreak again. "I'm still tangled up with Speedfreak."

"Not to worry." Namorita said, already in the air. "I'm on it."

The manager smiled at the monitors. "Keep it up baby, this is gold!" He suddenly looked behind him, and saw somebody else in the room with him. "Woah!" He yelled, backing away from him. "Who are you?"

The man with the giant head raised his hand at the monitors. "I am Uatu, the Watcher. I am tasked with watching important events in earth's history… but never interfering."

The man looked from the Watcher to the monitors. "Will the ratings be that good?" He asked.

"No." The Watcher said. "That bad."

Namorita flew into Nitro, pinning him to the schoolbus. "On your feet Nitro." She said. "And don't try any of your stupid explosions either, because that'll only make me hit you harder."

Nitro wiped blood off of his mouth. "Namorita, is it? Well… they said you guys were idiots. I can't believe I didn't believe them, but that was before you pushed a guy named Nitro into a gas tank near a school." He grinned. "I'm not the bargain basement loser you guys are used to baby. You're playing with the big boys now."

He exploded. The blast all but incinerated everybody within a couple of miles. The children, the school, the villains, everything.

The cameras went dead. The New Warrior's manager put his hand to his mouth in shock.

"And so it begins." Uatu the Watcher said, fading from view.

* * *

_A/N: Hello to you, from the ClownWithAChainsaw. I have this hobby, where after I've read a new story or watched a new movie I think about how it could be improved. This is a great mental excercise, and I've decided to publish one of these on fanfiction. Keep in mind, this isn't changing the whole story into a better story. This is going to stay true to the principles of the story; Spider-man will reveal his identity, Tony will deal with supervillains, Reed will clone Thor, etc... but everybody will stay in character and it will make a whole lot more sense. I won't be writing this in my usual style; To keep the effect of the graphic novel, my story will not include what the characters are thinking so you the audience can fill in that blank for yourself. And I will be following the actual Civil War pretty closely until the big changes happen, so it's probably best to read this alongside a copy of the actual Civil War. I will put author's notes after each chapter to explain why I changed what I change. Skip them if you want. But I hope you enjoy this story._

_So, starting with the opening chapter of the Civil War. This is where it all begins. Lesson number one: Accuracy. Graphic novels present the unique chance for many writers to get on board and write their own stories about these people (by unique, I mean it's an oppurtunity shared only by writers for Star Wars and Star Trek). But unless they keep it accurate to the events happening before, it's nothing but bad fanfiction. The first problem with accuracy seen here, is that Night Thrasher is the leader of this incarnation of the New Warriors, not Speedball. However, Speedball acts like the leader in the beginning of Civil War, probably so later the writers can stick him in his Penance suit. In my story, the reason Speedball gets blamed is because it actually was in part his fault (as opposed to Night Thrasher's fault for letting the comic relief be the team leader). Also, Uatu the Watcher shows up at the beginning of grand events, especially if this is a crossover which will effect as much as it does. He does not show up a little after the beginning during the superheroe's get together. _

_Until next time, True Believers!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Civil War Chapter Two**

**Stamford:**

The Avengers, X-men, and Fantastic Four were at Stamford almost immediately. Captain America and Iron Man looked over the ruin. "I'm told they've got a lead on Nitro." Tony said, trying to keep positive. "Word is he sneaked out of town on the back of a pick-up truck…"

"Does it matter?" Cap snapped. "All these children Tony. The F.E.M.A. chief said there could be eight or nine hundred casualties. All dead for a stupid reality t.v. show."

"They should have called us." Iron man nodded. "Night Thrasher knew the New Warriors were out of their league. The whole country saw the tape where Speedball said they were only chasing ratings."

"Marvel Girl! Cyclops!" A fireman yelled at the X-men. "We need some help over here! Motion detectors are picking something up twenty feet down, but we don't have our diggers here yet! Everybody clear a little space huh?" He asked his colleagues as Marvel Girl did her thing.

The debris seemed to lift itself into the air, and a group of survivors emerged. A fireman order blankets and defibrillators. Wolverine felt his hair stand on end and looked up. "Oh you gotta be kidding me." He snarled, as the Sentinels flew up to them. "We're helping with a federal emergency and you're still following us?"

"Just doing our jobs Wolverine." The pilot said.

"Well then maybe while you're doing your jobs, you could use your giant robots designed to sense life forms to help the rest of us search for survivors." Emma Frost said in the cold condescending tone she was so good at.

"It won't be just mutants they're watching after this one Ms. Marvel." Goliath said darkly. "This is the straw that broke the camel's back."

"You think?" She asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Goliath asked. "After Philly getting bombed, the Hulk trashing Vegas, Wolverine saying he's gonna kill the president… this is going to start witch hunts. They'll be coming after us with torches and pitchforks."

"Well maybe they're right this time Goliath." She said sadly. She gestured to the devastation around them. "Who the hell can justify this?"

* * *

The Funeral service was a sad affair. "And so we ask you lord, for your mercy." The priest said in closing. "Not only for our children who perished, but for those super people whose carelessness caused this tragedy." He gave a pointed look at Tony Stark in the back row.

As he left the service he heard somebody behind him. "Tony Stark?" He turned, and a woman with running mascara spat right in his face. "You filthy piece of crap!"

Stark's bodyguard, Bruce, separated them. "Ma'am, please. We're gonna have to ask you to leave."

"Leave what?" The woman cried. "Leave my own son's funeral? Stark's the one you should be dragging way! He funded this sickness with his dirty billions! Him and his buddies playing heroes, thinking the law doesn't applie to them, setting the bad example for children! Telling them not to care about authority, that as long as they have a badass attitude and powers they can do what they want! How dare you come down here like you care that our children are dead? Are you still having fun playing hero 'Iron Man'? You killed my son! All of you superheroes killed my son!"

* * *

**The Baxter Building:**

"So what are you saying Dr. Richards?" The Sorcerer Supreme asked. "That I'll be forced to become a Federal Employee or face a warrant for my arrest?"

The heroes were gathered in the Baxter building, discussing the possibility of a new law that would mean heroes would have to register. "Pension plans and annual vacation time?" Wasp asked. "It's ridiculous. I'm not going to take a vacation if the world is invaded by Skrulls."

"It sounds to me Wasp, like they're closing us down." Luke Cage said.

"Or making us more legitimate." Iron Man said. "Why shouldn't we be better trained and publicly accountable?"

"I can't believe I'm hearing this." Falcon said. "The masks are a tradition. We can't just let them turn us into super cops."

"Are you kidding?" Yellowjacket asked. "We're lucky people have tolerated this for as long as they have, Sam. Why should we be allowed to hide behind these things?"

"Who knows?" Spider-man asked."But if they're forcing everybody to work for Uncle Sam, I think a whole lotta people might just hang up their tights."

"The secret identity thing isn't such a big deal." Invisible Woman said. "The Fantastic Four have been public since the very beginning, and it's never really been a serious concern."

Spider-man shook his head. "Not until the day I come home and find my wife impaled on an octopus arm and the woman who raised me begging for her life."

* * *

**S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier:**

"I think this plan will split us down the middle." Captain America said. "The entire superhero community will be polarized by this law."

"How many rebels do you estimate Captain?" Director Maria Hill asked.

"A lot." Cap replied.

"Any majors?"

"A few. Mostly the ones who work street level like Luke Cage, or Daredevil. People who have lives and families outside of superhero work that might be put in danger because of this."

"So nothing you can't handle?"

Cap paused. "Excuse me?"

"You heard."

"Are you… going to ask me to arrest people who risk their lives for this country… for our country… every day of the week?"

"No, I'm asking you to obey the will of the American people Captain."

Cap frowned. "Do not play politics with me Hill. Superheroes need to stay above that stuff, or Washington starts telling us who the villains are."

"I thought super villains were guys in masks who refused to obey the law." Hill said, and suddenly Captain America was surrounded by a swarm of soldiers wearing special armor and pointing their guns at him.

"Weapons down boys." Cap said.

"Stand your ground gentlemen." Hill said. "Captain America is not in charge here."

"You have no ground to stand on." Cap said. "Weapons down or I will not be responsible for what comes next."

"Tranquilizers on boys, get ready…"

"This is insane! Completely insane!" Cap yelled. "You do realize Hill, that the law has not been passed yet? That as of yet I have committed no crimes? That you have absolutely no legal grounds to do this? Are you going to have your men attack me just for telling you I won't arrest heroes?"

Hill just glared at him. "We can't have Captain America speaking against a law this important."

"Well, I was on the fence about it." He said. "But now, I guess I'll have to."

"Tranqs! Now!" Even as Hill yelled at her men, Cap was moving. He dodged between fire, shots bouncing off his shield as he easily plowed through her soldiers. It was elegant, almost a dance. He threw his shield, and used the armor of two soldiers to protect him from the darts and he fought his way through the room. He felt rotten fighting American soldiers, but he would do what he had to, to ensure the sanctity of his country.

"Take him down!" Hill yelled, as he stood on top of a pile of soldiers.

"Don't even think about it soldiers." He said, running straight at her, through her, and through the window behind her.

"Maria Hill to all units!" Hill said through her commlink. "Stop Captain America! I repeat, stop Captain America!"

Cap fell down, twisting around in the air to shield himself form fire from the helicarrier. He angled around towards an incoming fighter jet. The pilot swore in surprise as Captain America's shield came through the windshield. "Keep flying son." Cap said. "And watch that potty mouth."

"You idiot." Hill said, watching him. "Now there will be war."

* * *

"And then he landed the jet in a football field before taking the pilot for hamburger and fries." The secretary of defense laughed. "Ain't that just like Captain America? Making sure a two billion dollar warplane don't get damaged no matter how much trouble he's in?"

Most of the rest of the people around the table were frowning. "I'm glad you think this is funny mister secretary." One of them said. "Because I was under the impression that our registration plan was controversial enough. Cap going underground means every super hero who disagrees with us suddenly has a figurehead."

"Then we need a leader of our own, sir." Tony Stark entered the room, with Reed Richards and Hank Pym in tow.

"What are you suggesting Stark?"

"You push ahead with the registration as planned gentlemen. Leave Captain America to us."

* * *

_A/N: Lesson Number two: Why? You always have to consider your character's motivation in things, you always have to ask why. For example, why is a distraught mother yelling at Stark about politics? I mean, it's her son's funeral, you'd think she'd yell at him about how his lack of caring killed her son, not about the superhero registration act and 'this sickness'. Needless to say, as part of improving Civil War, she will not show up again. Because why would Tony parade around with the girl who spat in his face? Why would she let him parade her around? Why is always the question you have to ask. _

_And why does Maria Hill jump the gun on Captain America? I mean, he's just voicing his discomfort with arresting his friends. You would too! And she's arresting him? This, I think, is the point at which people call fascism on the registration act. So why, you may ask, did I include this bit? If you did ask that, then clever you, but I'm not about to give you a straight answer. I will say, that for Civil war to happen at all, it required Director Hill to provoke Captain America like this. And that there will be an explanaition for her behavior later on. See if you can guess._


	3. Chapter 3

**Civil war Chapter Three**

**Harlem, New York:**

"I'm here to help!" The Sentry said, flying into the broken open doors of a bank. He stopped in midair, when he saw the thieves, the Grim Reaper and the Vulture, tied to one of the decorative columns.

He looked around, quizzically. "Does anybody need any help?" he asked.

* * *

**Undisclosed Location:**

The headlines of the newspapers screamed to the heavens about the registration act and Captain America going underground.

"Fifteen." Hill said to herself as she looked at news footage of Vulture and the Grim Reaper. "Fifteen super-criminals inside seventy two hours. But the numbers don't add up. There's just no way Captain America could've taken down all these guys at once. It's physically impossible."

"Not when Captain America's involved." A voice said from a nearby radio. "You shouldn't underestimate him Maria, especially after last time."

Hill sighed. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up, but I don't know what scares me more. Either he is doing this alone… or he has help."

* * *

**St. Mary's General Hospital:**

Wolverine pulled up a chair. Speedball had somehow survived the explosion. "Hey bub." He said.

"Wolverine." Speedball was wrapped in bandages. "What're you doing here?"

"I won't be here long." Wolverine said. "Just coming to tell you… I'm looking for the s.o.b. who went and blew up Stamford."

Speedball gulped. "I heard… I heard there's a law in place now, superheroes have to register. Is that true?"

"It's true." Wolverine said. "And some of us don't like the law. There's a war coming."

A tear ran down Speedball's cheek. "It's all my fault."

"Nah." Wolverine got up. "No, it's Nitro's fault. All you did was think you could take him. And going up against things bigger than yourself… well that's part of being a hero isn't it?"

* * *

**Tony Stark's Penthouse:**

"Twenty minutes to go, Tony." Rhodes said. "Word from S.H.I.E.L.D. is that we're looking at thirty-eight signatures already. That's pretty much what you estimated, right?"

"Pretty much." He said. "Any word from Cap?"

"Only that he's putting his own team together, and he'll see this through to the finish."

Tony sighed. "I hope we're doing the right thing here James." He looked out the window and saw the sign in times square loudly proclaiming that the registration act has become law at midnight. "Because I'm going to see this to the end too."

* * *

**New York:**

Patriot ran across the rooftops away from the registration helicopters. One of the soldiers spoke into his commlink. "Unregistered minor foiled a robbery in costume air command. Identified as codename Patriot from the Young Avengers. Am currently in pursuit."

"Roger that Foxtrot-four." Air command said. "Permission to use tranquilizers and minimum force."

"Guys!" Patriot yelled into his radio as the helicopter shot at him. "S.H.I.E.L.D. just caught me breaking up a mugging, and they're not playing around. We need to get out of here!" He leaped into the air to an office building across the street, spinning in midair to wreck S.H.I.E.L.D.'s guns with his throwing stars. He crashed through the window and picked himself up, quickly. "Seriously, they're all over me! Where are you?"

The helicopter fired a pair of explosive canisters into the building filled with knock-out gas. The Patriot grimaced as he ran back out the window he came in, the explosion helping propel him in the air towards the helicopter. The pilot yelled as the Patriot crashed through the window.

"Hoo boy." One of the soldiers on the ground said. He turned on his commlink. "Foxtrot-four needs some back-up with codename Patriot." He said. Then he helped gather the rest Young Avengers in. Except for Hawkeye, they were all unconscious. Wiccan was just waking up, but they needed him out so they could stop him from using any spells. It had been a hard fight.

"See, this is what I'm talking about." One of them said as they drove off in the prison transport. "These kids, they're like what, sixteen? Seventeen tops. And they're basically out there in their pantyhose laughing in our faces. I mean seriously, all these kids are the same. They're even paying these kids to go official now, but no. They think they're rebelling against authority or something. Gonna be a cold shower for them when they see the prison they've got set up for these super clowns. You heard about this place? This 'number forty two' thing they're designing? Frank in supplies says you can't even look at the blueprints without these special goggles. I'd like to see somebody get out of that."

The driver's frown had grown steadily darker. "You know something fella?" He asked. "You talk too much." He kicked him out of the armored car and the police cars behind him swerved to a stop.

In the back, the Falcon had taken off his disguise and woken up Wiccan. "I need one of your teleportation spells now okay kid?" He asked, freeing his mouth.

"Where too?" He asked with a smile.

"The cops are already blocking the road Falcon!" Captain America yelled from the driver's seat.

"The spell's coming!" Falcon yelled back. Wiccan was muttering a string of words over and over as the transport drove closer to the barricade…

And disappeared in a tunnel of electricity.

When the doors opened, the Young Avengers walked out. "Where are we?" Hulkling said in awe.

"You're in Resistance base #1." Luke Cage said, walking up to break their restraints. "You guys ready to reconsider our offer to join up?"

"What about Patriot?" Hawkeye asked.

"He escaped the copters." Cage said. "We have Cloak looking for him as we speak."

Cable swore. "What's wrong soldier?" Cap asked.

"You're going to want to see for yourself." Cable said, turning on the television.

* * *

**New York Press Conference:**

Spider-man hid behind the curtain with Iron-Man. "I don't know if I can do this." He said. "I've been hiding my identity to protect my family for years. And now I'm going to tell the world? Every fiber of my being is screaming against this Tony."

Tony put a hand on Peter's shoulder. "You have talked about this with them, right?"

"Well… of course…"

"Then Peter, don't worry." Tony smiled. "I will provide your family with every layer of security I can possibly offer. You keep saying, that with great power comes great responsibility? I will make it my personal responsibility to ensure your family is safe."

"Seriously Tony?"

"I swear it on my father's grave Peter. Now come on, let's do this thing." He walk out from behind the curtain to the adoring applause of the audience. "Ladies and Gentlemen." Tony said, adjusting the mike. "We superheroes have had a rough couple of weeks. First Stamford, and now we're getting settled into the new Registration act."

The crowd applauded. He gestured for them to settle down. "Now, Captain America has broken the law, and is telling us that the registration is not right. But, I have with me a man who needs no introduction. A man who has been protecting this city since he was in high school, suffering persecution from the press, the public, at times even his own family, and some of the worst super villains the world has ever known. He is here to ensure you that the registration act is the right thing. It is the way of the future. He is so confident in it in fact, that he is going to put his name on it. His civilian name. Ladies and Gentlemen, I now turn the podium over, to the Amazing Spider-man!"

The crowd roared with applause as Spider-man swung onto the stage. Tony gestured for everybody to settle down as he stood at the podium.

* * *

**The Daily Bugle:**

J. Jonah Jameson's secretary walked into his office. "Mr. Jameson?"

Jameson didn't take his eyes off of the television screen."Ms. Brant, you even think about asking me what I want for breakfast and you're fired!"

* * *

**Press Conference:**

"Um…" Spider-man began. "Most of you know, I've, uh, guarded my secret identity pretty carefully over the years… and it's only after a long talk with my wife and family that I've decided to take the following step." He began to take off his mask. "I'm not wearing my old mask because I'm ashamed of what I do. I'm proud that I can do my duty as a citizen, and I'm here today to prove it."

He took off his mask.

"My name is Peter Parker, and I've been Spider-man since I was fifteen years old. Any questions?"

* * *

**Daily Bugle:**

J. Jonah Jameson collapsed in shock.

* * *

_A/N: Lesson Number Three: Respect. Treat your superhero characters (who tangle with more villains than you would ever know what to do with) with respect. If you read my other fanfic, Legends, even if you only read the first chapter, you will see that I even kill characters with the respect they deserve. Most of Civil War has some level of respect; not so in regards to the Young Avengers. Most of the dialogue from Civil War is good. You'll note, that since for now my version of the story and theirs share a similar plotline, much of the dialogue is almost verbatim. However, the Young Avenger's dialogue is reduced to; 'what would a kid say in this situation?'. News flash, they are not kids. They are teenagers. You all remember being teenagers right? We may snivel and cry when our girl/boyfriend dumps us, but never in the face of danger. We think we're indestructible, whic I can only assume is a feeling magnified by having actual superpowers. Why on earth are the Young Avengers treated as kids during Civil War? (Even the look on Patriot's face when he sees the gas rockets. Patriot is badass, he wouldn't make that face!) I can understand the guards treating them like kids because it makes him more of a jerk, but honestly, would you capture the Avengers as easily as they did? A few scuffed uniforms and they're being led into a truck in handcuffs? So yeah, here you see them in a scenario where they actually put up a fight and had to be unconscious before the guards cuffed them. Except Patriot. If the truck hadn't been rescued by Cap, it would have been by Patriot. _

_Lesson Number Four:Red Herrings and Chekov's guns. As you can see I'm dropping hints about the future of this story (as any story should in its beginning). Yes, the Sentry will actually be present for Civil War (do any of you know why the author's didn't include him? I mean, I know he sucks, but that hasn't stopped them before and at the time he was a major part of the Marvel community). Wolverine is going to hunt down Nitro, and he will give him the brutal beating he deserves. Also, note that Tony is swearing the Parker family as his responsibility. So, yeah, a few hints dropped for the future here and there are always a good thing, especially when it comes to a big reveal. It is my personal opinion that every single moment of a story should be part of the build up for the Climax, but we'll get into that more on the lesson about the Climax._


	4. Chapter 4

**Civil War Chapter Four**

**Bronze Monkey Saloon, Madripoor:**

"It's unbelievable." Nighthawk said. "He gets one press conference, and suddenly he's bigger than Elvis."

"Stark know what he's doing." Wolverine said. "Giving the people a symbol of hope. Playing the crowd. After all, he's going up against Captain America, he has to give the people something to chew on or they'll turn on him. Now's about the time he's going to start really hammering in his recruitment drive."

Nighthawk sighed. "Do you really think we're doing the right thing Wolverine?" He asked.

Wolverine put down his drink. "I've known Cap for a long time." Wolverine said. "His problem is he sees things in black and white. The Allies were good, and the Nazis were bad, and I'll give him that. But he can't adapt to see anything else." He took another sip. "I think the answer is yes, you're doing the right thing for now. But if this goes on much longer, then I'm pretty sure Cap won't be able to come around. He won't give up, ever, and that'll probably cost you all a lot."

"So that's a no to joining our side then?"

Wolverine snorted. "There's that black and white thinking again. You see it as two sides; Tony and his registration heroes, and us, the vigilantes. But the thing is, we don't have a side. Every citizen who does something good isn't a vigilante. You're not a side; you're al on your own sides, and you're only working together here because your philosophies coincide. But when they don't…"

"So no?"

Wolverine stood and straightened his jacket. "No. At least, not yet. I have business to take care of."

"Alright." Nighthawk got up to leave, but Wolverine caught his arm.

"Listen, if you want my advice, lay low. Don't get caught up in all of this. Just keep doing hero stuff, whether you're pro-reg or not, and whatever you do, don't get into a tangle with other heroes. Trust me, your life will get a lot easier if you don't make enemies of your friends."

* * *

**Wakanda:**

"So let me see if I understand this my friend." Black Panther said, as he and Reed Richards met outside of Wakanda. "Tony Stark is forming the super hero community into a super police force covering all fifty states? And he wants me to help him round up the heroes who disagree with it? I don't think so Reed."

"The President personally asked for your help here T'Challa…" Reed said.

"I'm sorry Reed, but no." T'challa said. "In Wakanda we would be mortified if we needed outsider help to solve our problems. This is your problem, and I cannot help you. Why, the political implications alone…"

"I understand." Reed said. "But I had to ask. You may be the king of Wakanda, but you're also a hero."

* * *

**Greenwich Village:**

"I am sorry Yellowjacket." Wong said. "But the master said he wouldn't even consider supporting Stark's plans. In fact, he's gone into seclusion in his arctic lodge in the hope that he might resolve your differences by fasting for forty days and nights."

Yellowjacket sighed. "Well, he knows where to find us if he changes his mind."

* * *

**Atlantis Throne Room:**

"What!" Namor yelled, jumping from his throne. "No! Absolutely not Richards!"

"Calm down Namor." Reed said, backing away.

"I am a king!" Namor said. "I am not subject to your laws! I will not subject myself to your United States to be ordered around like a dog! I am Namor of Atlantis, and by Imperius Rex I will not help you hunt down Captain America!"

* * *

**Xavier Mansion, Westchester:**

"Ah, this must be the first time we've been alone since Marrakesh Emma. How's Scott treating you?"

"Better than you did Stark." She said icily.

He took a sip of lemonade. "Obviously you know what I'm going to ask. Is there any point in verbalizing it?"

"No." She said. "In fact, we had a meeting just last night. We decided that helping you hunt down the anti-registration rebels would be a violation of everything the X-men believe in."

"Even with ninety percent public backing?" Stark asked. "I know your new boyfriend is keen to curry favor with the white house. This could be a big step forward for mutants in public acceptance."

"We know what it's like to be persecuted while fighting the good fight Mr. Stark." She said. "We have no intentions of being on the other side of the equation."

"What about the interests of your students Emma?" Tony asked. "Is it really wise to put them on a collision course with the American government?"

Oh, we don't want to fight Mr. Stark. We're perfectly happy to remain on the reservation the government has made for us for now. Just consider us neutral, like Switzerland. But remember, like Switzerland, we are a sleeping giant that can kick the ass of anybody who messes with us. But as long as you leave us alone, you won't have to worry about us running around with our star spangled friend." She smiled. "Your choice Mr. Stark."

Tony Stark got up and left. "You're giving up already?" Rhode asked.

"They've been persecuted enough." Stark said, getting in his car.

* * *

**Queen Victoria Cafe, New York:**

"My name is Brett Hendrick, and I'm a security supervisor at a shopping mall in queens."

"I am Victor Tegler, and I am a…" *snort* "I am an I.T. consultant for a major international finance corporation."

"My name is Cooper Peyton. And I'm and engineer from Long Island."

"What kind of name is Rockswell Dodsworth?" Luke Cage asked. "and how the hell did I end up as a community outreach worker? I told fury I wanted to be something cool like a racecar driver or something."

"s'up?" Hercules asked as Luke put a finger to the small radio in his ear.

"Petrochemical plant on fire over by Hudson." He said. "Base said there are three or four hundred trapped inside. They're sending Cloak and Dagger to 'port us in."

"Keep the change ma'am." Cap said, paying the waitress and leaving. "And thanks for the wonderful meal."

"Emergency distress calls, sneaking into alleyways to change into costume…" Luke grinned. "I hate to say it, but I'm kinda starting to enjoying this."

* * *

**Geffen-Meyer Chemicals:**

The full team of Secret Avengers teleported in. "How many workers did you say?" Cap asked.

"Three or four hundred." Cable said. "But something weird's going on… I'm not getting any emergency signals over my info net connection."

"It's a trap." Cap realized. "Cloak! Get us all out of here!"

Suddenly a rain of darts came down from above, and took out cloak and Wiccan.

"Of course it's a trap." Tony said. "Tried and true method of bringing people together."

The Secret Avengers gathered together protectively. "We didn't come here to arrest you Steve." Iron Man said. "I convinced S.H.I.E.L.D. to offer you one final amnesty."

"You mean surrender?" Cap asked. "Sorry Tony, but you know I don't do that."

Tony lifted up his mask. "Cap, please." He said. "I know you're angry. I know it's a big change from how we used to work. But the times are changing. The public doesn't want masks and secret identities. They want to feel safe around us. We abused their trust, and we need to earn it back."

"Nice Tony." Cap said. "But while times may change, principles don't."

"Cap… Steve… you've known me for half of my adult life. You know I wouldn't do this unless I believed it with my whole heart. Will you at least hear me out?"

Cap looked at Tony's outstretched hand. Then at the helicopters in the sky. He shook Tony's hand. "I'll hear you out." He said.

"Thank you Captain." Tony said. "I won't disappoint you."

"Yes!" Spider-man said. "See guys? We're all friends here, we don't need to fight each other, we can do things without brawling."

"And Tony?" Cap asked. "You remember when you gave me the Starktech disabler, in case your armor fell into the wrong hands?"

Tony's eyes widened and looked at his hand. It had the scrambler on it. He yelled in pain as the suit's circuits got scrambled.

"Actions speak louder than words Tony." Cap said, hitting him with his shield. "Don't disappoint me!"

* * *

_A/N Lesson Number five: Choosing the right characters. In any story, you have to make sure the focus is on the right characters. For example, this is one of the few stories Wolverine really could have shone in. Let's face it; originally the concept of a hero who could kill was unique. But now not only do we have those by the dozen, but we also have them all with healing factors. In this day and age, Wolverine is just too bland and generic a character to be written in a well rounded manner in most stories. But in Civil War, he could have shone; he's been around a long while, including even the first civil war. As a world-weary character with lots of history, he could be key. Do you know who was focused on instead? Namor. Why would Atlantis be involved with this? Anyway, in a crossover between the entire Marvel universe, a lot of the people who play a part in Civil War shouldn't even be there, like Samson or Ms. Marvel. Of course, there's not a lot of oppurtunity to focus on that many characters anyway in an event this big, but a little effort would be appreciated. _

_On another note, now that Tony isn't looking like the bad guy, Captain America is starting to look like a stubborn fool, isn't he? He looks like a stubborn fool in the real Civil War too, just to point it out, but in the real deal Tony comes across worse, so we're too busy rooting for him to realise that he's making everything worse. Anyway, I'll make sure they both redeem themselves fully before the climax. _


	5. Chapter 5

**Civil war Chapter Five:**

**Geffen-Meyer Chemicals:**

"Everybody head for cover!" Goliath yelled, swiping away S.H.E.I.L.D. snipers from a roof.

"Hank please!" Wasp yelled as Yellowjacket grew to match Goliath. "You can do this without having to grow-!"

The Avengers on both sides began to clash. Giant girl grew and kicked Atlas in the face. "Don't be stupid Bill." Pym said, putting Goliath in a headlock. "I invented Pym particles. There's no way you can beat me."

"We don't wanna fight you guys Hulkling." The Thing said, attacking him. "Why can't you do as you're told, huh?"

"Well, you do what you're told and you're attacking your friends." Hulkling explained, fighting back.

"Yow!" Spider-man dodged captain America's shield. "careful with that Cap, you could poke somebody's eye out! Like these poor schmucks for instance!" He whipped the shield around with the three spider-like appendages Tony had built into his new costume, and knocked Daredevil and Vision out cold. Then he jumped in to fight Cap.

Iron Man activated the overdrive function in his armor that negated the tech Cap had stuck on him. He flew up and around, heading straight towards Cap and Spider-man as they fought.

"Captain!" Hercules yelled, seeing Iron Man. "Beware!"

Iron Man shot forward like a rocket and plowed Captain America through a wall and into the facility's medical wing. "You're wasting your time Steve." Tony said. "This armor has recorded every punch you've ever thrown." He began to fight Captain America, trading blows with expert precision. "I know your next move before you do."

Hercules threw aside Samson, and tried to get to Captain America. He saw Iron Man tearing him up. She-Hulk and Spider-man tried to get in the way.

"Out of my way, you filthy traitors!" Hercules yelled, tossing aside She-Hulk. "He's killing him in there! Hold on Captain! I'm coming!"

Spider-man suddenly leaped out of the way on instinct, and a massive lightning bolt shot out of the sky. The heroes stopped, and stared into the sky. "What the hell?" Luke Cage muttered. Then he felt the sting of lightning. As did Nighthawk. And Dagger.

"My god." Daredevil said.

Thor descended from the heavens, lightning dancing around Mjollnir.

"Thor!" Falcon asked as he touched down on the ground. "Thor what are you doing? It's me man… the Falcon…"

"Thor…" Dagger said. "You've been gone a long time… everybody thought you were dead…"

"No Dagger." He said. "But you will wish I were dead." He threw his hammer, striking at Daredevil, Dagger, Falcon, and Cable.

"We have to get out of here." Nighthawk said, spitting out blood. "We have to leave now or we won't leave at all!"

"Wretches." Thor said, his hammer returning to his hand. "You're not going anywhere." He struck his hammer to the ground, throwing the rebel heroes into the air.

Back in the ruins of the medical wing, Iron Man stood over Captain America. "Cap, please don't get up." He said. "I don't want to hit you again. Your jaw is dislocated, practically hanging off. Just surrender, and I'll get you help from the S.H.I.E.L.D. medics out there."

"You really think I'm going down…" Cap said, standing. "To somebody like you?"

Iron Man sighed. "Iron Man to all points." He said through his radio. "Everybody put in your audio blocks." He raised his arm and fired. Cap threw his head back and screamed in pain. "Unbelievable." Tony said. "That frequency was supposed to put your brain into a total shut down. Listen, Cap, I'm sorry, but you've lost. Don't worry, I'll try to make this quick and then you'll wake up in a comfortable cell."

"There's… no such thing." Cap said. He looked up. "You've… disappointed me…" He gasped.

Tony hesitated, and lowered his arm. He reactivated his radio. "Director Hill, how's the fight going out there?" He asked.

"Excellent." Hill said. "We've dropped project Thor into the mix, and he's cleaning up the rebels good."

"What?" Iron Man asked, incredulously. "I didn't give the order for that! He's my project!"

"And you made it for S.H.I.E.L.D. to use." Hill said.

"I made it for S.H.I.E.L.D. to use as a failsafe for a certain scenario!" Iron Man said. "You need to withdraw it now!"

"You aren't in charge here Stark." Hill said. "Have you taken care of Captain America?"

"Yes." Iron Man said, watching Cap get up. "He's not going anywhere." He punched Cap back down again. "But I have to advise against letting Thor join this battle."

"Me too." Falcon flew in and picked up Captain America. "Come on Steve, we have to get out of here."

"Oh no you don't." Iron Man said, chasing Falcon. But the Giant Girl threw a wall at him and brought him down.

"I have a plan." Cap said, taking the Falcon's communicator. "Cable. I need you to link yourself to Cloak's mind. We're getting out of here now. Everybody else, gather around them. Make a defensive perimeter and hold it. We are leaving."

Thor had Luke Cage by the collar and was hammering away at him. "Are you kidding me?" Goliath yelled, throwing a truck at the helicarrier. "Are you kidding me?" He yelled, swatting aside a good portion of Iron Man's Avengers. He turned to Thor. "Get ready for the shortest comeback in history Thor." He said.

"If you wish." Thor said, firing a bolt of lightning at him. It ran straight through his heart, and he collapsed onto the ground.

"My god…" Nighthawk said. "Thor just killed Goliath."

"Fall back and regroup!" Falcon yelled. "We need to get out of here or we're all going down!"

"You are all going down." Thor said, raising his hammer.

He struck down at the gathered heroes… and an invisible shield protected them from the lightning.

"Huh?" Hawkeye asked.

"Get out of here." Invisible Woman said from outside of the shield. "Now."

"Susan…" Falcon said, stepping up. "Thank you." And then Cable gathered them together in the folds of Cable's cloak and they left.

"Shut down code; Richard Wagner." Reed said. "Eighteen thirteen to eighteen thirty three."

"What the hell happened Reed?" Yellowjacket yelled. "I thought you said he was going to be just like the old Thor! Didn't you bother to program him?"

"Sue…" Reed looked to his wife. "Sue you have to believe me, we…"

"Don't even speak to me." She snarled. "Don't say a damn word."

"I thought you said you knew what you were doing Tony." Spider-man said. "I thought you said nobody was going to get hurt."

"Don't pin this one on me!" Tony yelled. "This wasn't my fault! It was –"

"Did you make it?"

"What?" Tony hesitated. "Well… yes, me and Reed made it."

"Then it's your responsibility."

Tony Stark went silent. Maria Hill the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. touched down on her helicopter. He walked up to her. "Miss Hill." He said. "I don't know what you were thinking but -" She held up her hand and walked towards the Invisible Woman.

"Susan Storm." She said. "You are under arrest."

* * *

_A/N: Yeah, no new lesson for this chapter, just general improvement. You will note that while Tony did create the Thor clone, he created it for another set of circumstances that are yet to be revealed, and Hill jumped the gun. Also, Invisible Woman is going fugitive early. _


	6. Chapter 6

**Civil War Chapter Six:**

**Avengers Tower:**

"She's the Invisible Woman." Tony Stark said, standing up to Director Hill. "I don't know where she is, and neither does Reed."

"If he knows something—" She began to threaten, then Stark held up his hand.

"Look around you miss Hill." He said, gesturing to the fallen heroes. "Everybody got hurt today. You can question Reed later if you want, but as far as I know this is a spur of the moment thing, brought on by you and your damn gun jumping. Now unless you have a warrant get out of my tower; I can dance the legal jig in circles around you and you know it."

She made a face and left, and Tony slumped in his armor. He walked over to the auditorium where Hank was about to operate on Thor. "How are you feeling Reed?" He asked.

"My wife is a fugitive." Reed said. "How do you think I'm feeling?"

Tony nodded. "Usually, given Hank's record with robots, I'd have thought you'd be in there."

Reed shook his head. "Hank lost a good friend today. The only reason he's in there is because it has to be done and he's better under pressure. I wouldn't be able to focus. I can't focus." He started to cry. "I'm sorry Tony."

"Don't you dare apologize." He said. "This wasn't what you signed up for."

"This isn't what any of us signed up for." Janet said.

"I still can't believe we cloned a god." Reed said. "I thought there would be some sort of magic I couldn't overcome… that I'd have to ask for Dr. Strange's help. Do you think we did the right thing Tony?"

"This wasn't our f…" Tony slumped. "I… I don't know."

* * *

**Secret Avengers Headquarters:**

"Appeal for amnesty?" Cap waved his hand as he sat recovering from the fight. "Are you kidding? We just got another twenty supporters Nighthawk. Tony's people are disappearing by the hour."

"So what?" He asked. "Bill's dead and half of our guys got thrown into this… big forty two penitentiary Reed Richards is building."

"And are you going to let them get away with that Kyle?"

NightHawk shook his head. "No Captain. But I'm worried that you're thinking about this too much like a soldier. You've drawn the line in the sand, and instead of shades of grey you've found the black and white. This is an ideological war Captain. We have to fight because we believe we're right, not out of revenge for Bill."

"He's right Cap." Luke Cage said. "This isn't a war against evil like in WWII, this is a war against our friends."

"I think they've made it clear how they define friendship Luke." Cap said.

"And what about Thor?" Cable asked.

"That wasn't Thor." Cap said. "Do you really think Thor would murder Bill? It's just a robot or something to boost their morale. So spread the word. That's not Thor."

"Bill died the second he thought he was bigger than the law Cap." Nighthawk said. "I'm out of here."

"You're honestly going to go to register Nighthawk?" Cage asked. "You're going to let them tell you who the good guys are and who the bad guys are?"

"At least I'll know which one I am." Nighthawk said.

"Cassie…" Hawkeye stopped her.

"I'm sorry Kate." She said. "But I don't want to end up like Bill, and I'm tired of fighting heroes."

"Let them go." Cap said. "Ghandi said, that the price of freedom, is the freedom to make mistakes. And if they want to give up their freedom… then so be it. It's their choice. We'll have to find a new headquarters though."

* * *

**Atlantis:**

"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice your majesty." Susan Storm said, entering the throne room in a bubble of air.

"If you have come to ask for my aid in this 'Civil War' debacle," Namor said. "Then you should know that your husband has already tried to convince me to lend a hand, and I will not move my decision for a pair of dolphin pup eyes… even yours."

"I'm not here about that Namor." She said. "Not directly. I'm here about my brother."

Namor's eyes widened as Susan Storm made the other contents of the bubble visible; her brother, on a gurney and wrapped in bandages.

"Who…" Namor growled.

"We defected from Tony and Reed's side." She said. "He was injured as we escaped. I would go to a hospital on land, but we're fugitives now. I've stolen enough to get him stabilized, but he needs a hospital…"

Namor walked into the bubble and lifted her chin up so she met his eyes. "Who did this?" He asked again.

She moved his hand away. "I wouldn't want to cause an international incident by having you take your revenge." She said. "I just want a hospital for my brother, and asylum while he recovers."

"You will have it." He said. "Robara!" He called to one of his maids. "Take Storm to my personal physician, make sure he gets the best of care, everything an earth dweller needs."

The maid nodded, and fitted Storm for an oxygen mask. "Thank you Namor." Susan said.

He didn't move. "If you ever change your mind about causing international incidents… if you ever need anything at all, you have but to ask it. Now go with your brother."

They left the room and Namor stood, deep in thought. "What do you think your majesty?" Wolverine asked, coming out of the shadows wearing his own oxygen mask.

"I will give you the information on the man who killed my sister." Namor said. "And I'll consider your other proposal as well."

* * *

**Goliath's Funeral, New Jersey:**

"Hell of a send-off." Nighthawk said, as Goliath was lowered into the giant coffin by cranes. "I still can't believe that Hank couldn't find a way to reverse the Goliath's growth."

"At least he managed to whip up some giant funeral accessories." Tony said. "He's been… well, Hank hasn't been himself lately. I think this war might be taking its toll."

"We shouldn't be fighting friends." Nighthawk said.

"But we have to." Tony said. "There are a lot of people who want us all outlawed. We need to maintain order, for the good of us all."

"Well, you know my terms for signing up with your side." Nighthawk said. "I'm not going to fight my friends."

"Understood." Tony said, staring down into Goliath's grave. "Understood."

"Such a horrible thing to happen." Aunt May said, as she, Peter, and M.J. left the funeral.

"I know." Peter said. "I'm beginning to think this wasn't such a good idea."

"I'm glad to hear it." Said a voice nearby. "Don't look around Peter, it's me, Susan."

"Hello Susan." M.J. said as they kept walking. "How's Johnny?"

"Worse for the wear, but safe, thanks for asking. Peter, if you want to switch sides I can make sure your family is safe as well."

"What do you think?" Peter asked. The three of them disappeared.

* * *

**Avengers Tower:**

"So how many are we losing?" Director Hill asked Yellowjacket.

"More than Tony can afford." He said. "A couple of Cap's people have come over, but the balance has definitely tipped in their favor."

"So what now?" Hill asked. "If we want the endgame to go as we planned we have to start hitting them hard."

"Well, we have project Thor, but Tony's still reluctant to release it. I'd say the situation is appropriate for project Thunderbolt."

Director Hill opened up the bay doors to prison 42. They looked over the prisoners they'd gathered for the project; Jack O' Lantern, Jester, Rhino, Bullseye, Venom, the Taskmaster, Radioactive Man, Absorbing Man, and the U-Foes. "My, don't they look happy?" Hill asked with a smile.

* * *

_A/N: Lesson Number Six: Suspense. Remember last lesson how I said that everything should be a hint towards the climax? Well, you should also build suspense. For example, I've dropped enough hints now that I guess a lot of you know how Wolverine's subplot is going to end. But why haven't I resolved his plotline by now? You all know what's going to happen. Or... or do you? They key to suspense is to give enough hints to the readers that they know what's going to happen, but they don't know when and they don't know what the twist is going to be. It's like a horror movie; you know the monster's going to pop his head out at any moment, but you don't know which moment or what the monster's head looks like so you jump in your seats when it pops out. Same basic principle, except instead of jumping in your seats my aim is to make your jaws drop. Everything is coming to a head; why is Maria Hill only making things worse? Why did Tony say Hank was acting odd, and why is he hanging out with Hill now? What is Wolverine's other proposal to Namor? Is Clownwithachainsaw going to end the story at this chapter an leave you in suspense for the rest of your lives? The answer to that last question is no, by the way. Anyway, Civil War didn't flunk on this aspect. It's the ultimate showdown between one of Marvel's greatest strategic minds (I think the Red Skull, Dr. Doom or Alex Wilder might have Cap beat, but that's just my interpretation) and Tony, the only person with more resources and more firepower than the Skrull and Kree armadas combined. It's anybody's guess as to who will come out the victor. I just hope I've done the sotry's suspense justice._


	7. Chapter 7

**Civil War Chapter Seven**

**Baxter Building:**

"You're sure this is safe?" Spider-man asked, as he crawled through the vents, avoiding touching what looked like miniature Earths.

"Listen to your Spider-sense Peter." Cap said. "It should be safe as long as you don't touch those orbs. According to Intel from the Invisible Woman, this month the security is design around the human immune system."

"Oh." Spider-man shuddered. "Cap, speaking between a science major who actually knows a lot about the human immune system to a soldier from the past, let me just tell you that this operation is in no way safe."

He busted out of the vent and leaped towards Reed Richard's personal supercomputer. "Can you hack it?" Steve asked.

"Yeah… no, no I can't." Spider-man flexed his fingers. "Steve, Reed is the single most genius man in the world. This is his own personal supercomputer, which takes its power from and alternate dimension where the universe is engulfed in a ball of flame, and it is actually cooling down because of the energy this computer is taking from it. If I even try to hack this thing, I have no doubt that the first firewall I meet will put the fabric of reality at stake."

Spider-man bent down and tore off a piece of paper taped to the underside of the keyboard. "Good thing that genius isn't the same as smart." He said, reading the password off of the paper and logging onto the computer. "Oh, dude. You should see Mr. Fantastic's top score on Minesweeper."

* * *

**Stamford:**

Tony Stark sat at the fountain he'd set up in the middle of the park he'd set up as a memorial to those who had died during the Stamford incident. "… What are we doing wrong Reed?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" Mr. Fantastic said. "We've been doing what you've suggested since the beginning."

"But it's all wrong." Tony said. "I never meant for the Thor Clone to go up against people like Goliath. I never meant…" Tony sighed. "Cap said he was disappointed in me. Do you have any idea how harsh that is? It's a hundred times worse than hearing it from your old man. And now Spider-man's defected."

"All we can do is choose the best possible solution to a problem with two impossible answers." Reed said.

"I don't know Reed." Tony said. "I hardly even want to begin project Thunderbolt."

"Well… we have to at least give it a shot." Reed said. "Remember, it's still in the experimental phase. What's the worst that could happen? It's not like we're giving the supervillains free run."

Tony's phone rang. He picked it up. "Tony Stark. Go."

"Maria Hill." Hill said from the other line. "We've found the Secret Avengers headquarters. We're moving in now."

"I'll assemble the Avengers and be there as soon as I can." Tony said, getting up.

"No, we're going in now." Hill said.

"Well who have you got?" Stark asked.

"An army of Cape Killers and project Thunderbolt."

Tony gestured to Reed and they started to run to his car. "I didn't give the order for that." Tony said.

"No, I did." Hill said. "I am the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. in case you'd forgotten."

"You're making a mistake!" Tony yelled. "We'll have another Goliath on our hands!"

Maria hung up. "Lets get a move on!" Hill said to her collected troops. "Do you think the Avengers will disassemble themselves?"

* * *

**Secret Avengers H.Q.:**

Spider-man stopped in the middle of the hallway. "Something's wrong." He said.

Captain America turned to him. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"My spider sense is going off the charts." He said. He turned around. Everybody looked back down the tunnel, as they saw a gust of wind blowing down towards them.

"Sue, shield!" Cap yelled, and she put up a force field. The gas hit the field, and stopped, forming the supervillainess vapor.

"Surprise." She whispered, blowing them a kiss. The Rhino ran through the wall, grabbing Luke Cage and driving him through the other wall.

"They've found us!" Cap yelled, hitting an alarm on the wall. Lights flared and sirens echoed through the secret headquarters. The walls began to crumble as supervillains started to burst through them, leading the Cape Killers in.

"Everybody retreat and regroup!" Cap yelled through his communicator, batting away the Vulture as he flew at him down the tunnel. "Move to beta location like we planned." He hefted the Vulture over his shoulder.

"You're not going to get that chance." Venom said, stalking up the corridor at them.

"Sue?" Cap asked. She force pushed him through the wall and they kept on running. "We need to get everybody to safety." Cap said. "That's priority one. Especially Cloak; our whole plan depends on him. Likewise, priority two is figuring out how they found us, and how they got the drop on us. We'll ask the Vulture about it once he wakes up. Priority three is hitting back at S.H.I.E.L.D. Where's Hercules?"

"I can hear him in the hangar." Daredevil said.

"Susan." Cap pointed in the direction of the hangar. "We need a door."

She nodded. "Brace me." She said to Luke Cage. The walls were designed by S.H.I.E.L.D. techs to last for a hundred years. She tore a hole through them like cardboard.

As they dove through levels of the base towards the hangar, they passed several of their friends running or fighting supervillains.

When they reached the hangar, they saw Hercules and the Punisher going at the Supervillains and Cape Killers. They were covering the heroes who were flying into Cloak, on the run. "What are you doing here Punisher?" Cap yelled.

"I've been here for a while boy scout." He said. "Silently covering up your tracks. I owed Fury a favor." He reloaded his gun. "Now get in here!"

Cap gritted his teeth and gave the Vulture to Spider-man. "We have to get Cloak out of here." Cap said. "He's the key to winning this thing. We can save the others if we save him. But…"

"But you need somebody covering Cloak at all times, otherwise he'll be the last through his own portal and he has the chance of getting shot, right?" Punisher asked. "Get going, I'll hold them off."

"I'll help." Daredevil said.

Cap saluted them. "Don't go gently into the good night." He said, and he dove into the folds of Cloak's cloak.

* * *

**The New Secret Avenger's Headquarters:**

Vulture started awake, with Captain America looming over him. "$#%!" He said, before Cap lifted him up.

"How did you find us?" Cap asked.

Vulture spat out blood. "Spider-man." He said. "He's radioactive, and Venom recognizes his unique signature. One team up with Radioactive Man later, and we can pinpoint your location within centimeters. They're probably on their way here right now." The Vulture cackled, and Captain America reached out and pinched his nerve.

"Spider-man." He said. "You're going to have to go to Atlantis with your family. We can't risk this operation. We'll call you back for the main event."

"I understand." Spider-man said.

Cap turned to the assembled heroes. They were few, but they were enough. "Alright." He said. "This is it everybody. This war has gone on long enough. Thanks to the information Spider-man has given us, we can break into and out of 42 and save our fellow heroes. We will avenge the death of Goliath. Tomorrow, we end the war."

* * *

_A/N: Okay, now we're really starting to deviate from the original script. There are a lot more villains who would have jumped to be a member of the Thunderbolts during these dark times, and one wonders why this isn't shown in the story. Also, Reed Richards is the smartest man in the planet. This should reflect with his technology. Spider-man is one of the few people who can break into the Baxter Building because he is a) a genius himself, and b) possessing of a spider-sense. Punisher's 'black ops training' so called doesn't hold a candle to that. Does this mean anybody with Black Ops training could get into Franklin Richard's room? No. Reed would make sure it wasn't possible for mortal man to get into his house. Remember the lesson on respect. Respect the Richards. Your Minesweeper scores don't hold a candle to his. (Lesson Number Seven, by the way, is comedy. It's almost not a lesson as you can't force comedy, you have to let it come naturally. This is, in fact, one of the areas in writing I need to improve on. But when comedy comes naturally, as opposed to puns and forced jokes, it is worth it.) _


	8. Chapter 8

**Latvertia:**

Wolverine crept through the shadows of Castle Doom. He creeped down a corridor in the upper levels. His nose lead him to a cell at the end of the corridor, where Yellowjacket sat eating a small breakfast. "Hey there Hank." Wolverine said. "What are you doing here?"

"Wolverine?" Yellowjacket asked. "Oh, how did you find me? No, never mind that right now, help me get out of here."

Wolverine cut through the bars and ran into the room, cutting the chains attaching Hank to the wall. "What did Doom do to you Pym?"

"He kidnapped me, obviously." Pym said. "He replaced me with one of his robots. Wolverine." Hank gripped his arm. "Something terrible is about to happen. There's a clone of Thor. Tony and I formed the genetic structure around a robotic base. We have to stop the clone from being activated."

"A bit late for that." Wolverine said. "He's up, running, and he put a hole through Goliath."

"Oh…" Pym threw up on the floor.

"I thought it wasn't you when I was at the funeral." Wolverine said. "I heard you say that you couldn't reverse Goliath's height so he can be buried because he adjusted the Pym particles somehow. I'm surprised nobody else picked up on it. You invented Pym particles for crying out loud, if something needs growing or shrinking you're the man to go to."

"How did you find me from there?" Pym asked.

"I wasn't looking for you." Wolverine said. "Your trail just happened to coincide with the company we're about to have."

"What…" Pym jumped as a door in the corridor opened.

Nitro walked in. He smirked at the pair of them. "Doom's compliments on getting past his security. Well… most of it anyway."

Wolverine ran at Nitro, with a growl that turned into a roar of rage. Nitro didn't even flinch. He just raised his hand and blasted Wolverine through the steel and stone walls. Wolverine tumbled out of the tower, falling several feet before regaining his balance and pushing himself off the wall to avoid the moat.

He picked himself up, and Nitro jumped out of the window after him. "Is this about Stamford?" Nitro asked. "Is this because I've killed enough people to get noticed now? Are the Avengers sending their big guys after me at last?" He laughed.

Wolverine drew his claws with a snikt. "You, are in for a world of hurt bub." He said.

Nitro just laughed again, and blasted Wolverine into the air. Nitro followed him, flying over him, and blasted down, sending him crashing into the town square of the nearby village.

"You know what the best part about killing all those children was?" Nitro asked, as the villagers began to clear the street in a panic. "It was the fact that I won. How many bad guys can say that? I did what I set out to do. I made a team of heroes look so bad, that nobody will ever be able to call themselves a New Warrior without being stoned in the streets. My name is on the front page of every newspaper in America.

"Almost." Wolverine growled. "But the Daily Bugle still has Spider-man on its number one." Nitro glared at him blasted him into the ground.

"I'm A list now." Nitro said. "I took out three heroes and caused the next 9/11 in a single fell blow. And now I'm going to be the one to kill Wolverine. I'm one of the big dogs now. Woof woof."

Wolverines stood up tall. Then taller. Wolverine walked out of the smoldering crater, growing to a height of forty feet tall. Nitro soiled himself in terror.

"There'll always be a bigger dog than you Nitro." Wolverine said. He grabbed the supervillain and lifted him up. "Woof woof." He chucked Nitro down his throat.

He walked through the village's main street. "Thanks for the assist Pym." He said.

"Don't mention it." Yellowjacket said, standing on his shoulder. "With your healing factor, it should wear off pretty quickly though."

"What about Nitro?" Wolverine asked.

Yellowjacket shrugged. "I don't envy your digestion system, but at least he'll shrink with you. Nitro will spend the rest of his life as short fuse. Now let's go save the day."

* * *

_A/N: Lesson Number Eight: Awesome. Now, you hear awesome being used by the same category of people who use words like 'dude', so it's easy to forget that it actually means something. Awesome is when something inspires awe. Something is just so magnificent, so brilliant, that you cannot help but realise if all of your life means you can pull of something as awesome as this it will be worth it. In a story, there has to be excitement before the climax. When we come to the climax we'll talk about this some more, but before we get there we have to have some awesome (it's part of a nutritious breakfast). Now keep in mind, awesome isn't just about explosions and hot girls as Micheal Bay would have you think. Awesome needs to stay true to the story, or else it gets out of place. Case in point, is Wolverine being out of character by saying woof woof? Usually, yes. But is he being out of character in the context that this guy he hates just said it whilst proclaiming his superiority, and Wolverine is saying it to a) mock him, and b) reassurt his own superiority? Yes. Especially if Wolverine has been made forty feet tall, curtosy of Hank Pym, and is about to swallow Nitro. Especially after Wolverine walked out of a smoldering crater Nitro made in an effort to kill him, whilst growing. _

_Lesson Number Nine: Karma. When a bad guy does bad things, bad things happen to him in return. Now, I like how Speedball forced Nitro into the penance suit, but it took a while to get there. When a man blows up a school, we want him punished now. And we want to make sure the punishment is permanent. We want to know that after passing through a man's digestion (and who know what else Wolverine ate?) he will live the rest of his life about the size of a mouse, with all the exposive power of a cherry bomb, never to hurt anybody else again. The opposite, unless you're Spider-man of course, is true. If you do good, good things will happen. But for now, we'll focus on Nitro and the life of pain ahead of him. Smart money says he regrets his life._


	9. Chapter 9

**Civil War Chapter Nine**

**Helicarrier Landing Deck:**

"For the last time, the Thunderbolts aren't going anywhere near this."

Iron Man stood firm under Maria Hill's glare as they faced down on the helicarrier's landing deck. "They've proved more effective than all of you heroes in a single effort."

"If by more effective you mean more broken bones." Iron Man said. "These are men with grudges, and I know you wouldn't normally put people in the field who are emotionally attached to the assignment."

"Then why should I let you go?"

"Because if you don't, you'll have Iron Man on the anti registration side. And I've read your playbook."

Maria threw her hands in the air and left. "Fine. Just bring Captain America back."

Yellowjacket rubbed his eyes. "What about you big guy?" He turned to the Sentry.

"Yea, Bob, are you feeling up for it?"

The Sentry shivered and looked around. "I'm sorry guys… the agoraphobia…"

"No need to explain." Iron Man said. "I don't want to take our friends to jail either. You sit this one out with Nighthawk. We'll handle this."

Iron Man and Yellowjacket walked away. As he left, yellowjacket turned and sent a wry smile to the Sentry. The Sentry smiled back, nervously.

* * *

**Antarctica:**

The Watcher contemplated the figure before him. "How long now since you have eaten Stephen Strange?"

Strange shivered in the arctic snowstorm. "Just a little water since the Civil War began."

"Why are you fasting Strange? You obviously favor no side, or else you could have ended this war in a day. What outcome are you meditating for?"

"Whichever victory is best for mankind my friend." Strange said. "And spills the least amount of blood."

The Watcher rubbed his chin in thought. "If I were to give you some advice my friend…" The Watcher said. "It would be to eat. Despite your neutrality, it would be wise of you to be at your full strength if you wish to prevent bloodshed. You never know when you will be called upon."

* * *

**The Bridge:**

The guards stood tall as the watched the corridor between 42 and the real world. Suddenly, they all fell over with a yelp, as something invisible hit their helmets. "Thanks Sue." Captain America said. "You can make us visible again now."

The assembled heroes became visible as they move to prison forty two. "How's security Vision?" Cap asked.

"It's taking a while." Vision said. "But we're in the clear for now. This Wakandan technology is fantastic."

Spider-man held up his hand. "Hold up guys." He said. "My Spider-sense is going off the scale! We're talking defcon one!"

"I'm not surprised." Iron Man stepped through the portal on the other end of the corridor, a line of heroes following behind him.

"You've just walked into another trap Captain." Iron Man said. "We've had a mole on your side for quite some time now, and you're outnumbered five to one."

"If you're talking about Tigra, we know all about her." Cap said.

"What?" Tigra asked, shocked.

"You're not the only one with a mole." Cap smirked.

"That's impossible." Iron Man said. "Nobody knew about her but me, Reed, and Pym."

"I'm sorry Tony." Yellowjacket said.

"Pym?" Tony asked. "Why? You believed in this more than anybody!"

"It's a good thing I'm not Pym than." He said.

"Who are you?" Reed asked.

"No, no, that's not it." The fake yellowjacket said. "What you should be asking is, what have I done while impersonating your friend?"

A swarm of anti registration heroes came in through the portal, freed from prison forty two. "The Cells." Tony said.

"I believe this evens the odd a little." Cap said.

"Cap, can't we resolve this peacefully?" Tony asked. "The President is prepared to give twelve pardons. Well, eleven. Reed's already reserved one for you, Susan. Think of the Punisher Cap. Think of the harm unlicensed vigilantes can do. All we're talking about is teaching young heroes how to be better and sending them into the field fully equipped. Is that so wrong?"

"No, it isn't." Cap said. "What is wrong, is you've made yourselves puppets. Being a hero is about doing what's right, not what other people tell you is right."

"I am doing what I think is right." Tony said.

"Then I feel sorry for you Tony." Cap said. "Because that means you think Goliath's death was right. You think this prison is right. You think working along psychopaths is right. Think of what you wanted Tony, now think of what you've done."

"Good advice." Tony said. "Why don't you listen to it?"

Cap raised his shield. "Avengers!" He yelled. "Assemble!"

* * *

_A/N: Alright, here it comes. The big finale. Hold onto your socks everybody, for the next lesson will be the most important of them all._


	10. Chapter 10

**Civil War Chapter Ten:**

**Passage Between the Baxter Building and the Negative Zone:**

Suddenly, the corridor shook. "What was that Captain?" Iron Man asked.

"I don't know." Cap said. "It's not one of ours."

"No, this little surprise is mine." The gateway back to the Baxter Building flickered out, leaving only a steel wall. The fire detector above their heads opened up and a beam shot down. It became a holographic cube, with the image of Dr. Doom's head on all sides.

"Doom." Iron Man and Cap said in unison.

"Yes." Doom said. "It is I who have sprung this trap, and you have fallen into it graciously."

"What trap Doom?" Reed asked.

"Why, the only one you could not escape." Doom said. "The trap of your own enormous egos." He placed his hands in front of him, steepled. "You see, after Nick Fury tried to wage war with me in secret, I decided it was time to move my plans for world domination to endgame. The first step was sending somebody, anybody really, to cause a mass breakout in the Raft. Granted that caused the Avengers to reform, but I had what I needed. The next step, was hiring Nitro to bomb Stamford."

A collective gasp from the heroes. "How could you?" Iron Man asked. "Why Stamford?"

Doom shrugged. "I needed children dead for the full impact of what had happened to sink in, and I needed it to be in a town previously completely empty of any metahuman contact so the mothers would feel the appropriate amount of outrage. All I needed was a few inept 'superheroes' and some evidence of their failure. All that remained was for me to call the New Warriors to put my plan in motion. It was ludicrously easy. I didn't even have to doctor the camera footage."

"What do you mean your plan?" Reed asked.

"Oh? You haven't figured it out yet?" Doom leaned into the camera. "My plan to keep yourselves so busy infighting, you wouldn't notice me taking over the world."

"You couldn't possibly have predicted we'd go to war!" Iron Man said.

"Oh, but I did." Doom said. "If you hadn't suggested the bill, it would have been Maria Hill; my mole in S.H.I.E.L.D., recently promoted to Director. Fortunately you were the one to propose it. Of course, I needed you to be fighting, so she provoked Captain America into becoming the leader of the anti-registration movement."

Maria Hill leaned into the scene. "Hi there heroes." She said, waving.

"And it all went uphill from there." Doom said. "In fact, it worked better than I had any right to hope. That nuisance Spider-man preoccupied with his family after you Stark, paraded him out in front of millions and had him tell all of his worst enemies how to strike at him. By the way…" he whispered. "I know they're hiding in Atlantis with Susan's brother."

"If you touch them – " Spider-man yelled.

"Speaking of which!" Doom stopped him. "The Fantastic Four! One hospitalized, the other hiding his ugly face, and the last two so distracted by fighting each other, that neither can think straight." Susan and Reed exchanged longing looks from across the corridor. "Iron-man revealed his plan for the Thor clone to Hill, who used it to sow even more distrust. Dr. Strange went into seclusion. And of course, Pym."

"What about Pym?" Reed asked, looking at Yellowjacket.

"Well, he's been indisposed." Yellowjacket tore off his face, revealing a robot underneath it. Captain America immediately launched his shield at him, knocking him down. "What did you do to Hulkling?" He yelled, outraged.

"Oh, he got a bit of a surprise when he tried to drug me and take my place." The robot grinned frighteningly. "I gave him a taste of his own medicine, and locked him up."

"And what about Hank?" Iron Man asked.

"I've had your Hank Pym in my castle for quite a while now." Doom said. "The robot double I made has been quite indispensible in helping me manipulate you and informing me of your plans. Both of your plans, since the Hulkling incident. One of the three people who knew about your spy, and could give them new directions. One of the people you consulted, Tony, on how to make the world a better place."

He gestured to their surroundings. "Forty Two. Quite the prison, isn't it? Located in another dimension, one I've been studying intently ever since Reed discovered it."

"You'll never keep us imprisoned here." Reed said. "I can get that gate working again in a minute."

"Oh, do let me finish." Doom said, carrying on. "I haven't even gotten to the good part. Don't you think it's odd that there was a telepath powerful enough to effect even Charles Xavier's mind in regards to the Sentry? Did any of you even bother to look for old news footage? You trusted him because a writer for a comic book company had been writing stories about him for quite some time. Didn't you think maybe, the comic books came first?"

"The Sentry is the product of a deal I made with Mephisto. The ultimate assassin, one you would never think would betray you, out of a mixture of pity, and old friendship. A warrior who cannot be beaten, because his power comes from a thousand stars. Much more than a match for any of you, and quite unkillable."

"It can't be." Cap said. "He was…"

"He was a con Captain." Doom said. "And he's not here right now is he? Just like Pym suggested you make sure the Thunderbolts weren't here. Let me tell you how the next twenty four hours will take place. First, I will send the Sentry out to kill your loved ones. I know all of your secret identities now, and your families will pay the price for your foolishness."

"You bastard!" Spider-man yelled.

"Then, he will wipe Xavier's School for Gifted Children off the face of the earth. Then Atlantis. Then Wakanda. As this is going on, I will open every door inside this prison (oh, don't act so surprised Richards, I had them hacked before you even installed them) and the prisoners will extract their vengeance from you."

"Of course, you think you can take them. You've beat them before after all. But this time the consequences of their losing will not be a simple slap on the wrist and some prison time. I have planted a quantum bomb inside the prison. It will go off in two hours, and I will only teleport out the prisoners who have defeated you and are still conscious. This time, they will be fighting for their lives. They all know this, and you would be surprised on the effect it will have on their moral and resulting fighting abilities."

"Once they have finished you off, (or been consumed by an explosion of quantum energy) I will send them, along with the Sentry and the Thunderbolts, to raise New York City to the ground. Every hero not dead by now, will run to New York in a vain effort to save it, and be killed."

"Then Doom will arrive. And he will stop the madness. I am the only one who knows how to defeat the Sentry. After that, the rest will be child's play. Thanks to the efforts of the media, everybody will know of how Dr. Doom saved the world from the menaces that are superhumans. They will wonder why their heroes abandoned them. I will enact phase two of my plan to become the director of S.H.E.I.L.D., followed by world peace."

"And then phase three. I won't take over the world. I won't have to. The world will beg me to lead it."

"That is the worst plan I've heard of!" Iron Man yelled. "You've assembled almost every superhero in America in one place under the assumption you can kill us all at once, but there's not any amount of villains in this world that can take us all on! We've got them outnumbered! We'll just beat the tar out of them, and Reed will get us out of here, and we will kick the Sentry's ass!"

"Oh, yes." Doom nodded. "There is that. It is true that you currently have the supervillains in the immediate area outnumbered." He shrugged. "I guess the only way to get around it is if I make a long winded reveal of my plans to distract you from the undetectable gas I'm pouring into the room."

"Cloak!" Cap yelled. "Get us out of here!" With a moan, Cloak collapsed to the ground.

"Soon, most of you will be unconscious, and the rest of you will be on your own against an army of desperate supervillains. Even if my plan fails, even if by some miracle you do make it out alive and somehow defeat the Sentry, some of you will die, and some of you might even lose a family member or two. And there will be absolutely no evidence linking me to this tragedy."

Reed stumbled, and toppled over. Susan ran to his side, as Tigra, Daredevil and Atlas collapsed too. A loud ringing sounded out, and the doors of the prison opened.

"Farewell old foes." Doom said, before the hologram simply flickered out.

* * *

_A/N: Lesson Number Zero: The Villain. Yes, I this is lesson number zero not lesson ten, and yes I did but a capital V on villain. This is the most important lesson, and the main reason why Civil War is not the best story it could be. The first thing anybody should ever learn about how to write a story is this; STORY IS CONFLICT! A story is when something is facing something else, and we root for a side. Sometimes the side we root for is villainous, sometimes the side we're against is something intangible, like nature or time. Sometimes the bad guy of the story, is just a vice the hero is trying to overcome in itself. Doesn't matter. A story is when two sides collide, and we root for one._

_Which is the point where Civil War (and One More Day for that matter) has flunked abominably. We have conflict of course, we have the two sides. But neither of them are villainous. But because it is, in fact, a story this means we must automatically root for one side. This causes a conundrum where we have to turn heroes into villains, and no matter how much of a grey area it is they're fighting for, in our minds they will now be villains until they redeem themselves (and they have to work for that redemption) because they are fighting against whoever we have (in our heads) decided is the hero. We don't want to make this decision! This isn't why we read graphic novels! We read because we want to see heroes beat villains, and if the heroes fight each other it will a) be a wacky misunderstanding where the heroes team up afterwards and fight the common foe, or b) part of a long rivalry between two heroes, like Hulk vs. Wolverine, or Punisher vs. Daredevil, or Namor and the Fantastic Four._

_Now, in a story this epic that will effect the future of the entire universe for years to come, THERE HAD BETTER BE A BAD GUY! YOU CANNOT HAVE A STORY OF THIS SIGNIFICANCE AND SKIP OUT ON THE BAD GUY! IF YOU DO, YOU WILL HAVE A STORY NOBODY WILL WANT TO READ!_

_Now, on the selection of bad guys for a story; there are four types of bad guys. First, there are the arch nemesese, the guys who are counter to the heroes in every way. Then there are the bit parts, the villains who are just there to get beat up, showing off how tough the hero is, or to get killed to show off how anti the anti-hero is. Then there are the big deals, and here we get into the terriotroy of cosmic entities such as the Gamemaster, Dormammu, or Thanos. Then there are the dragons, the people who aren't arch nemeses, and aren't as powerful as the big deals, but still powerful enough to seriously threaten the hero. And lastly there are the schemers, the villains who work behind the scenes to bring about the hero's demise. They are probably somewhat physically competent, but prefer to use their brains before resorting to getting their own hands dirty. We are dealing with a story where a scheming villain is required, as it pits two teams of heroes against each other._

_I would choose the Red Skull for a scheme this devious, but if I'd made him the villain we wouldn't have the terrific plot he hatches that spans through Winter Soldier to Death of Captain America, which just shows off his scheming abilities so elegantly. So, the other natural choice is Doom, the arch enemy of the Fatastic Four, and sometimes Iron Man, Captain America, and Spider-man. All of whom are effected by the war. Coincidence? I think not. To be honest, this is such an obvious choice for a villain, I am outright shocked that the people at Marvel didn't even tell us what he was doing during the war._

_Also, the schemer will usually have a dragon. The Thunderbolts are good, but I'm taking it one step further. His sidekicks are Maria Hill and the Sentry himself. Yeah, the Sentry came from Mephisto. If Mephisto is powerful enough to cause the single biggest retcon in the history of graphic novels, why not the second biggest? So yeah, the heroes are going to have to beat up the Sentry if they want to win. While they're trapped in the negative zone being attacked by villains. That's like taking bets on what happens when an unstoppable force meets an unmovable object. And oh yeah, the unstoppable force in this equation is the Sentry. Think on that._

_Now think on whether the anti-reg side or the pro-reg side sound like the bad guys anymore._

_Which brings us to lesson ten: the stakes. When you have a story of this much importance, the stakes have to be high. The fate of the world and the hero's lives at least. The stakes go hand in hand with the villain, and again, One More Day is as guilty of this as Civil War. I won't write an improved version of One More Day, but if anybody else reading this wants to, here's a word of advice; there is no suspense in the story. There is only the senseless dread that Spider-man is going to make a deal with a devil. There is no bad guy, because Peter's conflict in that story is with death itself, and unlike other stories that would have an anthropomorphic representation of death which Spider-man could beat into submission, but not when somebody like Quesada is around to suck the joy out of life. I'm not saying you can't have good stories unless you have a supervillain; a lot of good stories star one of the hero's vices as the villain, or something the heros cannot fight physically. But those were just good stories, I'm talking about stories like One More Day and Civil War which are supposed to have major consequences. I'm talking about Epic stories, with a capital E, and we'll get into that next chapter._

_In the Civil War, the stakes are half of the heroic population imprisoned if the pro-regs win, and a chaotic world where the public fears vigilantes if the anti-regs win. Now I'm adding the fate of the world and the hero's lives into that mix. I am also mixing in some genocide, the destruction of New York, and the death of our hero's loved ones. These are some pretty high stakes here, how could I make it higher? Well, even if the heroes do survive their deathtrap, they have no evidence to convict the main villain with. Also, the guy responsible for all the upcoming genocide and killing happens to be one of the most powerful beings in the universe, and the only one of these powerful beings with a so far unblemished 100% record of never losing. Ever. Remember the lesson on suspense? High stakes add to suspense. Are you worried that some of our heroes may not survive? Yeah, I thought so._


	11. Chapter 11

**Civil War Chapter Eleven:**

**S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Landing Deck:**

Maria Hill walked up to the Sentry. They stood there, looking at the sunset, until Maria spoke up.

"Doom says it's time."

He shuddered. "Is he sure?"

"He was sure before you even existed. That's the way his mind works."

"It just… it doesn't feel like today. The agoraphobia…" He sighed. "The world is just so huge."

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "You aren't in a comic book any more Sentry. Go."

His eyes glowed a dark yellow. He flew off into the sunset and Maria turned as six agents ran up to her. "Ms. Director!" One of them snapped to attention. "Somebody sabotaged the helicarrier! It's flooding with poisonous gas!"

"I know." She said, drawing her weapon. Six shots rang out, and the agents fell dead. Maria put on her gasmask and walked into the helicarrier.

* * *

**42, Negative Zone:**

She-Hulk tore out the floor and lifted it up as a temporary barrier against the advancing supervillains. "That won't hold them for long." She said.

Everybody was on the floor now, except for Iron Man, Captain America, and Spider-man.

Spider-man was staggering around. "How…"

"Tony…" Cap fell to his knees.

"Steve!" Iron Man caught him in his arms. "Steve you have to keep awake! Don't go to sleep, we need you!"

"How…"

"Didn't need me before…" Cap got to his feet. "Tony…"

"Cap, I'm sorry." Iron Man said. "I was just trying to make the world a better place, we all were! How could we know Doom would be behind this?"

"Tony…" Cap shivered. "Shut up. Can you get a signal out of the negative zone?"

Tony checked his screen. "Yes!" Tony yelled. "We just set up a communications tower in preparation for the fight! Doom hasn't messed with it!"

She-Hulk's makeshift wall began to get peppered with fist shaped indents. "They're coming through!" She yelled, trying to hold it in place.

"Can you send a message to anybody on the outside?"

"Is there anybody on the outside? S.H.I.E.L.D. is corrupt, every other hero on the planet is up here with a lungful of gas…"

"What about Atlantis? Wakanda? The X-men? The Hulk?"

"Yes!" Iron Man said. "If they see footage of Doom explaining his plans, Black Panther and the X-men will stop him in a heartbeat!" He brought up his memory files.

[[Footage not found.]]

"Wait, what?"

"Did yellowjacket have access to your armor?"

"… Son of a…"

"No!" Spider-man yelled. He ran up to Iron Man and pinned him to the wall.

"Peter!" Cap yelled, falling.

"How could you let this happen?" Spider-man yelled. "How could you Tony? You gave me your word! You swore that you wouldn't let anything happen to my family!"

"There's nothing I can do Peter!" Tony apologized. "I'm sorry!"

"We can… still… do this…" Steve said, struggling to keep his eyes open.

"What can we do Cap?"

Steve grimaced."Tony… get a signal out to one of your armors..."

"Yes, and I have a special suit prepared that might be able to stand against the Sentry." Iron Man thought. "But I won't be able to fight off the supervillains at the same time."

"I'll do it." Spider-man. "Just protect my family."

"I can't leave you to do this alone." Iron Man said.

"Peter..." Cap mumbled. "Don't be..." He passed out.

"You swore Tony." Spider-man said, stumbling towards She-Hulk. "Just do it."

She held the wall firmly. "I can hold them back for a while longer –" She stared as Spider-man leaped over the wall.

He landed on the other side, his legs giving way and stumbling onto his knees. "Knock knock." He said to the assembled supervillains.

The gathered Supervillains smiled. "I'm sorry about this Spider-man." The Shocker said, pointing his gauntlets at him. "But our lives are on the line too. It's you or us."

Peter got to his feet and took off his mask. The determination was clear in his eyes. "No. It's you or my family. Now run away as fast as you can."

The assorted villains actually backed up for a moment, stunned expression on their faces. Then somebody yelled "Get him!" And they all charged.

Peter leaped into the air. He shot webbing into Shocker's eyes, kicked the Vulture in the chin as he flew overhead, webbed up Electro, swinging him around and throwing him at Boomerang.

He dodged Boomerang's flailing shots and landed on the Grim Reaper's scythe. Shocker tore the webbing off of his eyes and fired at Peter, blasting the Reaper as he dodged, knocking Iron Monger over with a flying kick. He danced around like a drunk as Shocker kept firing at him, accidentally shooting his fellow supervillains until Peter picked up one of Boomerang's boomerangs and threw it, blowing up his gauntlets.

"I'm here! I'm here!" Titania ran into the room. "Sorry, I'm late. Where are –" She stopped, as she saw Peter swaying on top of a pile of unconscious bodies.

"Boo."

Titania ran away as fast as she could.

* * *

**New York:**

Jessica Jones pushed her car to its limit. Cars veered away as she drove through them, the Sentry following right behind. He flew past her and landed, reaching out. He raised his fist and brought it down on the hood of the car.

Everybody ran out of their cars for cover as Jessica got out of her car. "Alright. You want a fight?" She gave him her best right hook.

"Arrgh!" She pulled her broken hand back.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" The Sentry asked.

"I'll show you beautiful!" She rammed her other fist into his gut, and pulled back in pain.

"All of this wide open space." The Sentry gazed around. "The world is just so huge. You're not confined at all. You have all of this room, you don't know what to do with it. It's terrifying really." He reached out and grabbed her by the neck. "I hope you've enjoyed it while you can. Because I'm about to make it one person roomier."

Suddenly, thunder echoed through the street. A bolt of lightning shot out of the sky and knocked the Sentry away.

When the Sentry looked up again, Jessica was gone. Thor's clone stood in the middle of the street.

"Excellent." Tony said, controlling the clone from the negative zone. "The T.C.11 is fully functional and under my control. Now..."

The clone raised its hammer and pointed it at the Sentry. "As my old friend would say… I would have words with thee."

* * *

_A/N: So, in trying to improve Civil War while keeping it as close as possible to the original story, a Thor clone is constructed by Reed, Tony, and Pym. Why would they do this?_

_Because, of course, they never really trusted the Sentry. And with somebody that powerful, they wanted a back up plan._

_Introducing the T.C.11, the eleventh experiment in cloning Thor after he disappeared. Built around a skeleton designed by Tony Stark, the Thor clone is actually a mixture of Thor's D.N.A. with Captain America's. Just to be clear here, the Sentry is fighting an Asgardian on Super Soldier Serum, with lasers, shields, and all of Iron Man's tech built into its skeleton._

_Lesson Number Eleven: Some people say that there is a limited amount of ideas in this world, and one of these days they will run out. They are wrong. There are a certain level of common themes recurring in all literature. You just have to be able to put them together in the right order, and sometimes, just sometimes, you have to take them to a level previously thought impossible._


	12. Chapter 12

**Civil War Chapter Twelve:**

**New York:**

"Shutdown code: Orson Wel –"

"Not those kinds of words!" The four metal studs on the T.C.11's chest lit up, and shot out four beams of light meeting each other to make one large beam, blasting the Sentry down the street, through the abandoned cars, erupting into a ball of flame.

"… Wow. I have got to install one of those on my armor." The smoke parted as the Sentry flew straight at the T.C.11. Tony made it swerve out of the way and caught the Sentry on the back of the head with his hammer. "Fast as the lightning he wields… man I love this body."

The Sentry got up and regarded the Thor clone warily. "Tony? Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me." Tony said. "Allow me to introduce to you the T.C.11. I used a special blend of Thor's D.N.A. and Captain America's D.N.A., to create a body around a skeleton outfitted with every piece of hardware I could fit on. Specifically designed for the event of your psychotic breakdown."

The Sentry shook his head incredulously. "You know, you get to say 'I told you so' to your friends now, but if I never went bad, you would look really, really paranoid." He ran forward, raining down blows on the T.C.11. Tony blocked them, deflecting the Sentry's blows and then swinging down, hammering the Sentry head first into a fire hydrant.

"It's over Sentry." Tony said. "The T.C.11 is more than a match for you."

"Then go ahead and finish it." The Sentry said, getting up. "Because I'm not going to quit. Pepper Potts… Hogan… all of your friends are going to die."

"But not today." Tony raised the hammer. Lightning gathered in the clouds, and he prepared one massive final strike.

Suddenly, the electricity flickered out. "What?" Tony asked.

"I can think of two ways that I'm more than a match for your new toy." The Sentry said. "First, it's been programmed not to kill."

"Son of a…" Tony watched with horror as a bright light shone from the Sentry. When it faded, all of his battle damage had worn off, and he looked better than he did since before the fight.

"And second, I don't die." He pulled his fist back and sent the T.C.11 flying.

Tony got up and the Sentry was already there. He picked up the hammer and broke it in two.

* * *

**Negative Zone, 42:**

Spider-man lunged for the Red Ghost, but he just fell straight through him. The Ghost turned and went to punch him in the back of the head. "You've been drugged Spider-man." He boasted. "An easy target."

Whirlwind sped down the corridor towards them. Spider-man jumped up, grabbing whirlwind by the ornaments on his helmet and slamming him into the Red Ghost. The Red Ghost phased through him, but whirlwind's spinning blades took out the floor and they both fell to the corridor below.

"Are you okay Peter?" She Hulk turned the corner, dragging the other heroes along using Mr. Fantastic's body as a makeshift sled.

"I have to… get out of here…" Spider-man fell over.

"Peter!" She Hulk rushed over. "Peter wake up! You have to get out of here remember? Think of your family!"

Spider-man lurched up. "Right… MJ…"

With a screech the Mandrill rounded the corner. "Back off!" She-Hulk said, standing in front of Peter.

The Mandrill chuckled. "Are you going to stop me?" pheromones began flowing off of his body. "Would you do that to me? Don't you love me?"

"No… I… I…" She-Hulk stammered.

"In fact…" The Mandrill leaned in. "Don't you want to just… kill him yourself?" Suddenly, he gasped and choked. He fell over dead, and the Punisher tore the sharpened iron bar out of his back.

"Eeeeew." She Hulk said. "You got blood on my costume."

"Frank?" Spider-man got to his feet. "What are you…"

"Oh, don't tell me you forgot I was in here too?" Frank asked. "Of course, I'm not surprise your men neglected to get me out of my cell, but hey! You're knocking on unconsciousness' door, I'm surrounded by America's most killable, so all's well that ends well right?"

"Punisher, we have to get out of here." She Hulk said. "Doom is behind this, and he's going to destroy New York if we don't stop him."

"I've got a friend on the outside with access to an interdimensional teleporter." The Punisher said. "If either of you know how to get a signal to him, he can get us out of here."

"The communications room." Spider-man gasped. He staggered down the hallway. "This way."

"I've got Spider-man!" The new Black Knight yelled, running at him. "I've got Spider-maaaan!" The Punisher intercepted him and drove his bar under his jaw and through his brain.

"Maybe I'll stick with you guys." The Punisher said, grinning. "It's like you attract criminals."

She Hulk sighed, and picked up Mr. Fantastic again.

* * *

**New York:**

The Sentry flew up to the last suit of armor and tore its head off. "Is that all you've got Stark?" The Sentry looked around nervously. "I don't want to go to kill somebody else and turn around to see you behind me again remotely controlling another suit."

The T.C.11 crawled out of a crater in the earth. One eye was swollen, the quad-beam studs were cracked, and his left arm trailed behind him. "I've still got a trick or two." A beam fired from his good eye, and Sentry didn't even break stride.

"So, I guess I'll take it as a no then." The Sentry held the T.C.11 against the ground. "So how do I break your connection with this thing huh? Do I… break its neck? Or do I just have to stop its heart from beating?"

Tony flicked his wrist and a large explosive disc shot out, attaching to the side of the Sentry's head. A miniature nuclear explosion tore off half of his face.

"I guess I'll just have to experiment then." The Sentry said. He shone brightly and grew back his face. But Tony saw another bright light behind him.

He grinned. "Before you destroy this body, could I ask you something?"

"Sure Tony." The Sentry nodded. "What do you want to know?"

"Are you really alive?"

He thought about it. "No. At least, I don't think I'm alive in the traditional sense. I exist, and I think, but I don't really have a soul. I'm more like artificial life than actually alive. Why do you ask?"

"Because." Tony grinned. "If you're alive, then you won't be soon."

The Sentry yelled in pain as six adamantium claws ran through his chest. He collapsed in a heap, and Tony dragged the T.C.11 to its feet. "What took you so long?" He asked.

"I had to make a few stops." Wolverine said. Behind him, the real Yellowjacket stood next to Speedball, who was still covered in bandages. Nighthawk and Namor were behind them, walking out of the portal that Dr. Strange was closing.

The Sentry shone and got back up, the holes in his chest gone.

"Back for more bub?" Wolverine asked.

"As much as you have." The Sentry shrugged.

"You wanna do the honors?" Wolverine asked Speedball.

Speedball nodded. "New Warriors! Show him what you can do!" The seven superheroes charged at the Sentry.

* * *

_A/N: Lesson Number Twelve: Epic. We talked before about awesome. And we talked before about everything leading up to the climax. Now we reach Epic. This is the step above Awesome. Awesome can inspire awe, but awesome is actually attainable in everyday life. Epic is a once in a lifetime shot. You can have a few moments of awesome in your life, but if you have one moment of epic then you are a lucky person indeed. Epic is basically awesome, when everything's been leading up to it. Take for example would an action hero riding a flying mechanicle shark into battle be awesome? You know it. But it would be epic if, say, the action hero was just a bookworm who had just lost his true love to the bad guy who had abandoned him because he'd thought he was no threat, but the bookworm is smart enough to figure out how to fly a flying mechanical shark that nobody else knew how to even power up before he came along because the people who knew how had died, and he then leads an army riding flying mechanical sharks to save his girlfriend. That is epic. That is a level of awesome that doesn't just happen; is requires build up. Which means it usually happens at the end of the story. Now, I'm a little late in this because the previous couple of chapters had their shair of epic; Doom's reveal, Spider-man's handicapped fight, and the Thor Clone showing up for the good guys. There was awesome before that, but these moments were epic. Now we have the New Warriors. Lead by Wolverine and Yellowjacket. Joined by Speedball, Nighthawk, Namor, and Dr. Strange. All of the people who had refused to participate in the war (originally I'd scheduled the Thing to be a member, but I decided not to include him becuase I hadn't included a scene to build up to his involvement in the climax)._


	13. Chapter 13

**Civil War Chapter Thirteen**

Speedball flew across the city, through five apartments and into the harbor. He managed to turn around to fly feet first and steered himself towards a ship. As he hit the side, he took a moment to wipe the blood from his lips and then he pushed off, straight back through the same path where he'd been launched off. Straight at the Sentry.

The impact knocked him back a few yards, but he grabbed Speedball and tossed him away. "Next!" He yelled, backhanding Wolverine as he tried to attack from behind.

"You got a reading on him yet Doctor?" Tony asked.

"He's not natural." Dr. Strange said. "Moreso than you usually view magic as. Doom's bent the rules quite a bit to create the Sentry."

"Well not to rush you, but the Sentry just tore Wolverine's arms off."

"He'll manage. Imagine being French and then trying to translate binary into ancient mandarin, while the code tries to eat your friend's faces off."

"Well okay then. I'm going to see if I can help Hank."

"Please."

Tony rushed over and held the Sentry down as Hank grew to seventy feet tall and ran his fist into him. The Sentry maneuvered around and the T.C.11 was crushed between the Sentry and Yellowjacket's gigantic fist.

The Sentry threw Tony away, and flew up to Yellowjacket's chin, delivering a mighty uppercut. Then a fist came out of nowhere and hit him back down.

"For my sister!" Namor yelled, following him down. "IMPERIUS REX!"

He pounded at the Sentry. The Sentry got a few blows in too, but Namor was relentless. He pounded at the Sentry unceasing, his hands coated with blood. When the Sentry's head was non-existent, Namor stood, panting. He spat on the corpse and walked away.

"Are you alright?" Hank asked, rubbing his jaw. "Your hands look…"

"Broken." Namor said. "But it is of no consequence. Let us find Doom."

Dr. Strange gasped. "Look out!" Namor turned and had enough time to see the Sentry's fist before he sent Namor flying.

"I know what it is!" Strange said. "It's a Golem! It's an almalgamation of a Light Golem and an Ink Golem, but the reason it took so long to figure it out was because it's combined with a third Golem; a Dream Golem! It's only a theoretical concept a famous German alchemist came up with a couple of years ago. Its real body is located in the subconscious of the minds of one million people, and at any time, it can send one of its bodies out to our plane of existence! We have to kill it 999,997 more times!"

* * *

The T.C.11 stopped working. "What's happening?" Iron Man asked as he got off the Fantastic sled.

"The Punisher has somebody on the outside who can get us out of here." She-Hulk said.

"Really? Who?"

"Some techie on your payroll Stark." The Punisher said. "I saved his life once. He owes me a solid."

They reached the communications room. "How do you get this going?" Frank asked.

Spider-man slumped forward and typed in a series of codes. "Do you have… a phone number?"

* * *

Tony and Nighthawk slumped down at the Sentry's feet.

"By the mists of Watoomb begone from this plane!" The Sentry's body contorted as it was sucked through a black hole into another dimension.

"999,989 to go." Dr. Strange said.

"Isn't there some other way to do this?" Wolverine asked, reattaching his arm. "There must be something he can't stand."

"I know." Strange said, wiping his forehead. "But I haven't been able to find it. He's so unnatural that the standard spells for this situation don't seem to work. Golems can be banished, but he's an amalgamation of three Golems, and a product of a faustian pact. I've tried diverting him to another plane of existence, but I don't think that will work for long. We need some kind of… magical poison that can infect the Golem-prime from a distance, without infecting the millions of minds it's currently inhabiting. As far as I know, no such magic exists, so we'll have to keep killing him as we are."

"We ain't gonna last bub. We barely survived the last nine tries."

"I've got it! I've got an idea!" Speedball rushed over. "Teleport me to S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, I think I've got an idea!"

"Well let's hear it Speedball, before…" With a bright flash of light, the Sentry reappeared.

"Go!" Wolverine snarled, leaping at him.

* * *

Dr. Doom strode down the corridors of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Maria!" Doom said striding into the command room. "The Sentry is being distracted, and the heroes in the Negative Zone could be back at any second. We need to speed things up if all is to go according to plan."

He heard a gurgled behind him. He turned and saw Maria Hill lying next to the door. He turned back to the command desk, as the chair behind it swiveled around. Speedball glared at Doom.

"Well." Doom said. "Hello Speedball."

"How could you Doom?" Speedball asked. "How could you destroy Stamford? They never did anything to you. How dare you blow them up and still be able to live with yourself."

"I dare because I am Doom." Dr. Doom said. He reached out his hand and fired rocket at him. The desk and chair exploded. Speedball landed behind him.

"You're going to tell me how to deactivate Sentry. I know you wouldn't create something like that without having some sort of control over it."

Doom spun around and fired a blast. Speedball was already gone. Doom scanned the room. "I did have a means of defeating it of course. I made the deal with Mephisto for the Sentry to be an unbeatable warrior. But it also obeys my every order. All I have to do is command the Sentry to die, and the deal with Mephisto will be null and void." He saw Speedball's energy signature and fired, but it bounced away. "Much good that will do you and your friends."

"Do you feel any remorse at all for Stamford?"

"I only feel pity that you did not die in the explosion as well! Now die! Die you insufferable wretch! Die!" Three heat seeking missiles launched from Doom's armor and tracked Speedball around the room. He turned around and kicked them out of the air. The explosions only made him bounce faster.

"You monster!" Speedball bounced around the room at increasing speed, before bouncing straight into Doom. He staggered back.

_[[Warning: shield integrity at 89%]]_

"That's for Dwane Taylor!" Speedball yelled. "He was a hero!"

Dr. Doom pressed a button on his suit electrifying it. "This is for Zachary Smith Jr.! He just lost his father and didn't deserve to die!" Speedball bounced into Doom again, barely singing himself on the armor before he was bouncing around the room again gaining speed.

_[[Warning: shield integrity at 67%]]_

"This is for Namorita! She was kinder than somebody like you could even comprehend!" The next impact knocked Doom head over heels.

_[[Warning: shield integrity at 23%]]_

"This is for Brianna Mason! A little girl with a bright future! Until you ended it!"

_[[Warning: shields have failed.]]_

Speedball continued to bounce around the room, striking Doom six hundred and twelve more times, one for each of the victims of the Stanford bombing, reciting the names he'd memorized from the piles of hate mail in his hospital room.

By the end of it Speedball slowed down. Doom was lying on the ground, broken, battered, beaten to a pulp. He was little more than a ball of organs and bone splinters contained inside his metal suit. Speedball walked up to him. "Do you feel anything now Doom?" He asked. He punched him one more time. "That one's for me."

* * *

The Sentry had Dr. Strange by the throat.

"Shall I tell you, Srange, about how I'm tired of being a hero?" He asked. "How I came out of a comic book where the writers thought drama was me being put through a grindstone? How I got cloned, how I got beaten, how my memory got messed up, how I died and came back to life more times than I can remember, how a supervillain killed my first love, my second girlfriend became a supervillain, and my wife is afraid of me, how even after my entire planet and race is dead, my adopted parents were killed?"

"I could tell you how nobody could take so much without killing somebody, but I couldn't kill because the writers said so. I could tell you about how it's so roomy outside of a comic book and how you're I'm scared because all of my old friends didn't even know I existed until Mephisto altered history." He shrugged. "Or would you be happier to know, on your deathbed, that I'm just one of Doom's puppets, and I really couldn't care wether you live or die, except Dr. Doom commanded you die?"

Strange gurgled and rasped. The Sentry felt a blast of energy and saw the heroes from the negative zone behind him.

"Step away from the wizard." Iron Man said, holding a repulser ray at him treateningly.

The sentry rolled his eyes. He sped forward, tearing Iron Man's armor off. He deftly caught the Punisher's stick, bent it, and threw him through a window. He picked up She-Hulk and threw her into the Hudson. When Spider-man made his lunge, he just raised his hand and flicked him.

"Now... are you all finished?"

Spider-man staggered to his feet.

"Alright fine." The Sentry went forward and punched Spider-man in the guts.

Spider-man got up again. The Sentry shrugged. "Whatever. Listen Spider-man, your wife and your aunt are priority targets. And since they're with another priority, Johnny Storm, I think I'll leave you here for a while. Kill you later, okay?"

"No..." The Sentry flew away. He looked down, nervously, and smiled. He was about to leave for good, when S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier came out of nowhere and blasted him out of the sky.

The Sentry added another crater to the collection on Main Street. He dusted himself off and looked up as a window broke. "Incoming!" Speedball yelled as he fell out of the helicarrier, Dr. Doom in his hand. To slow his descent, he kicked the Sentry in the jaw.

"You..."The Sentry stared.

"Did somebody order some canned Doom?" Speedball let the armor drop to the street. "If not, that's okay. I have an extra can of whup-ass I can deliver free of charge."

The Sentry flew at him angrily. Speedball smiled, and held up a S.H.I.E.L.D. recording device. "I command you to die!"

The Sentry staggered. "No. It can't be. He needs me."

"No, he doesn't." Speedball said. "He laid it all out to me. Once his plan is over, he was going to kill you, he just made this recording in case he was otherwise occupied. As you can see, he is. He doesn't need you any more."

The Sentry roared and flew at Speedball. Speedball jumped out of the way and pressed another button. "Die! Die you insufferable wretch! Die!"

"Noooooo!" The Sentry screamed and started dripping. Black, Red, Blue, and Yellow ink poured off him. It came out of his eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and finally his legs started to dissolve. With a final scream he burst, spreading ink everywhere. And then there was silence.

"Is... it... over?" Peter asked.

"Yeah Wall-crawler, MJ is safe." Wolverine said. "You can rest now."

"'Kay. Thankssshhhh..."

"It is over." Dr. Strange said with a smile.

"No it isn't." Iron Man said. "What do we do with Doom? He may need a full body cast, but we have no solid evidence he's done anything. And... what about the war?" He looked at all the unconscious anti-reg heroes.

"This war is over." Wolverine growled, snikting his claws.

"And if you want proof about Dr. Doom's involvement in all this..." Speedball waved the recorder at him. "I got him telling me on tape all about how he felt no remorse for bombing Stamford."

"Listen bucket head." Wolverine said. "Live and let live. There's been enough harm for today. Maybe if you had something more important to do... say, disarming a quantum bomb, or disbanding the remainder of a terrorist organization like it looks like the Thunderbolts are... maybe you could let priority rule. Who's to say wether they won't stay put while you're gone?"

Iron Man nodded. "Alright. But this isn't over." The New Warriors watched him fly away.

* * *

_A/N: A lot of things went into this chapter. Originally, it was meant to be two chapters, the first one dedicated to the taking down of the Sentry, and the second for Dr. Doom. Originally, Speedball was just going to take down Doom, and the Sentry would beat his way through the New Warriors and head to Atlantis, only for the Punisher and Peter to teleport there, and Peter would stick him with his magical stingers and the warcry of "Don't... Touch... My... Wife..." I liked it but, I think this version was better don't you?_

_One of the reasons I didn't like it was because it was too forced. It took a whole lot of plot spinning just to get to how I wanted to resolve the situation. Of course, there were many other problems (breathing underwater, talking underwater, etc...) foremost of these problems being; the Duex Es Machina nature of it all. Lesson Number Thirteen; Never, ever, ever have a Deus Ex Machina without a) noting the nature of the deus ex machina, b) making sure that the dues ex machine is NOT part of the climax. Dues Ex Machina can be good, don't get me wrong, but it rarely happens._

_Lesson Number fourteen; the climax. Make it big. The climax ought to be epic no matter what; it is the solving of the final problem. It may not be as awesome as Wolverine eating Nitro, but it doesn't have to be. Climax is the solving of the problem. As noted above, never ever make the climax the way you want to inspite of the story. The climax should always mesh with the story, and if you have an epic climax planned out that doesn't mesh, let it go and let the characters solve their own problems. There is only one other possible way to mess up a climax - the anti-climax. The most frequent causes of anti-climaxes by far are dues ex machinas. That is solving the plot through a cheap cop-out. In my other spectaculer fanfic Legends (which I reccomend) there is a dues ex machina involved in the climax, but it is still a climax because a) the dues ex machina does not effect the climax itself, it just serves to make the story more interesting and gives a character an epic moment and b) it was noted in the chapter before that it was, indeed, a dues ex machina._


	14. Chapter 14

**Civil War Chapter Fourteen**

Tony Stark leaned against the rails on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Steve Rogers walked up next to him. "Hello Tony."

"Hello Steve."

"This isn't another trap is it?"

"No, I'm alone."

Steve leaned on the railing next to him. "How's everything doing?" He asked.

"The Fantastic Four made up." Tony said. "It turns out the Sentry went after Ben Grimm first. Luckily, Grimm is so alien the Sentry couldn't tell whether he was dead or just maimed, and we were able to save him. How are things on your end?"

"We're good. Cassie came back to the Young Avengers. Patriot's decided they should take some time off New York and move to another city."

They were silent for a while. "Good to see you two getting along." Wolverine walked up behind them.

"Logan." Steve said in greeting.

"Sorry I'm late, I had some more business to take care of." He handed Tony a container.

Tony looked into it, squinting. "Is that Nitro?"

"So." Wolverine said. "What are we going to do about this war?"

"Well… you could always give up." Tony looked over to Steve. "I mean, the whole reason you went anti-reg is because Maria jumped the gun, and now that we know she's a Latvertian sleeper agent…"

"Tony…" Steve shook his head. "That's why I started the anti registration movement, but my argument isn't any less valid for it. You've turned heroism into a bureaucracy. Any system can be corrupted, any number of things could go wrong. But a lone man doing what he thinks is right?"

"A lone man can be corrupted too." Tony pointed out. "He can do what he thinks is right, but that doesn't make it right. That's why we need checks in place, to train new heroes to save as many lives as they can and provide psychiatrists to make sure they stay on the straight and narrow."

"You both have valid points." Wolverine said. "Now, I've seen my share of wars. I've been in every one of them, from the American Civil War to 'Nam. But one thing they all share, is that nobody can win flawlessly. We've already had one casualty. And we almost had more yesterday."

The bowed their heads in memory of Goliath.

"Now, we can't let ourselves get so distracted by infighting that we forget about the real threats. But this will change the world as we know it. So, here's what I propose;"

"Tony, you get back to doing what you're doing. Form the Avengers, train young heroes, but a super squad on every state. But ignore the heroes who just want to do what they're doing. Let 'em fight the good fight, and only hunt 'em down if they do something bad. Don't arrest somebody just for being an unlicensed hero. By that logic, you'd have to arrest every good Samaritan that saves a cat stuck in a tree or rushed into a burning building to save a crying kid."

Tony grimaced. "Well… when you put it like that…"

"Live and let live." Wolverine said. "Just make an amendment to your bill. Say superhero registration isn't mandatory, but it's got a lot of benefits."

"What about them?" Cap asked. "You've made provision for him if one of us turns into a supervillain, but what if one of them pulls a Sentry? It's not like it would be hard to infiltrate the superhero community if all you need to do is trick people into believing you're an okay guy."

"You remember your declaration of independence Cap?" Wolverine asked.

"I'll never forget it." Steve declared.

"When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." Wolverine said.

He turned to Tony. "The New Warriors will be the new guards for you Tony. The seven of us will watch the watchmen. If one of Steve's guys goes bad, you can go after them. If one of your guys goes bad, we'll be your internal affairs guys and put a stop to it."

"What about if you go bad?" Tony asked.

"Then Steve can come after us." Wolverine said.

"Wait, the seven of you?" Steve asked. "I thought there was only six?"

"The Thor Clone gained sentience." Wolverine said. "Yellowjacket's patching him up now. We call him Brock."

"Oh man." Tony complained. "I hate it when my suits come to life."

"But Wolverine, you haven't registered." Steve said. "What makes you a better force for policing Tony than anybody else?"

"We don't need to register." Wolverine said. "Dr. Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme; basically the magical guardian for the entire planet. He's a higher authority than Tony, and since it's well within his rights to form a team like this, we don't have to answer to the registration act as long as we're on the New Warriors."

Tony thought for a while. "Alright. We have a deal." He put his fist forward. Steve put his hand over Tony's, and Wolverine followed the gesture.

"Well, I've got to go." Tony said. "I'm being made head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and I have to help with the case against Dr. Doom. You know he made a special exosuit just in case he ever got beaten so badly he needed a full body cast?"

"That's Doom for ya." Wolverine nodded. "Tell She-Hulk to give him hell."

Tony left and Cap was left with Wolverine. "This hasn't been a typical Civil War." Captain America said.

"Since when has anything to do with us heroes ever been typical?" Wolverine asked. "It did follow one trend Civil Wars tend to have though."

"What's that?"

Wolverine looked out over New York. "The world is, I think, better for it."

**The End**

* * *

_A/N: And now, Lesson Number fifteen; the denouement. The problems have all been solved in the Climax. The Denouement Is just the cleaning up of the problems, and telling the readers what's coming next. Not much too it._

_Thank you all for reading this fanfic. I hope you enjoyed it. I drew the inspiration for this fanfic from I Don't Need Your Civil War. The story isn't on fanfiction, so you'll have to google it to find it. Of course, it's a witty parody of Civil War, not a fix fic as this story is. I could have written anything, but after reading I Don't Need Your Civil War, I decided to write a fix fic about Civil War._

_And so, my readers, I close this story restating my objective; to prove that there is no such thing as a bad story. Only bad storytellers._

_Face Front True Belivers!_


	15. Q & A

**Questions and Answers:**

_Some people have had questions over the course of this story that they have made known to me in their reviews. I plan to address those questions here, in case any of you have had the same questions._

_The Punisher showed up in the chapter where the Thunderbolts raided the Secret Avenger's headquarters. He was then arrested and thrown into the Negative zone. That is why he was there. The reason he was still conscious while Spider-man was on his last legs, is he was in the cells. Dr. Doom only gassed the corridor where all of the heroes were gathered, and the phoney Yellowjacket hadn't let the Punisher out of his cell, as per Captain America's orders._

_Was Dr. Doom behind the Hulk's exile? No, he wasn't. Of course, he knew about the Hulk's exile and used it to his advantage, tracking him down to the planet he lived on and blowing it up started World War Hulk. When Hulk returned, the Sentry wasn't there to put a stop to his rampage. Instead, when the Hulk kidnapped Dr. Strange and Namor, the New Warriors went after him and managed to save the day._

_Dr. Doom built a special suit to help him move as he recuperated, however after World War Hulk, the Hulk completely destroyed his body. Doom managed to get his brain transferred into another suit of armor and live on. He then hired Masque the former leader of the Morloks to make him his old handsome self again. However, Masque can only effect how a person looks, so while Doom may be handsome again his entire body is composed of grey matter. This made his much more challenging an opponent, and he would go on to have many adventures with the Fantastic Four (and by adventures, I mean he tried to kill them and they barely survived)._

_One More Day happens. Nah, I'm just kidding you. The two ingredients to One More Day are; Aunt May being shot, and a talentless writer being in charge. Neither happen in this world. Instead of that rubbish, One More Day is the story of how Loki, tired of his debt to Spider-man, decides that since Spider-man saved his daughter, he would save Spider-man's. What follows is the tale of how they rescue May Parker from Europe where the Green Goblin has held her after all of these years, with the aid of Spider-man's friends. Also, J. Jonah Jameson gets his act together and beats Mac Gargan into submission. The symbiote leaves him and tries to possess Jameson and manipulate his hatred of the wall-crawler, but he overcomes it through sheer force of will and Spider-man has the Venom Symbiote frozen (don't worry, it will return one day)._

_Norman doesn't manage to take over S.H.I.E.L.D., not with Wolverine and the New Warriors on guard. However, the Hobgoblin does (The hobgoblin being, you know, sane, and a relative unknown, was able to fake his identity as a new hero and take control through a masterful gambit). All events thereafter happen as part of the hobgoblin's attempt to embezzle billions of dollars and become the king of a group of islands in the Bahamas. He succeeds, and in the process ends the world financial crisis._

_The New Warriors that would have been, had my New Warriors not been made, will form a team calling themselves the Vigilantes._

_Patriot goes on to be the sidekick of Bukcy Barnes when he becomes Captain America (not that he'll let you call him a sidekick). Steve gets shot, as before, and comes back._

_Everything else happens as planned I think. Any questions will be addressed here. Later True Believers!_


End file.
